European lawmakers criticised on Thursday a decision to hold the 2023 European Games in a Polish "LGBT-free zone", in the latest international rebuke over the treatment of LGBT+ people in the country.

Organisers of the regional Olympic event chose the city of Krakow and the surrounding Malopolska region last year to host the event, but concern over Poland's so-called LGBT-free zones has intensified in recent months.

Malopolska issued a declaration in 2019 saying it opposed "'LGBT' ideology", a step taken by dozens of local authorities across Poland. Krakow has not passed any such motion.

Terry Reintke and Marc Angel, MEPs who co-chair the European Parliament's LGBTI Intergroup, said the European Olympic Committees (EOC), to which it wrote a letter in September, had failed to take steps to protect and support LGBT+ athletes.

"It is incredible that such an organisation would not take further care of responding adequately to what are the questions many LGBTI persons will ask themselves when wanting to participate or watch these Games," they said by email. Read more via Reuters