From the BBC:
“Same-sex marriage must be
respected throughout EU, top court tells Poland”
Poland has been told to recognise
same-sex marriages registered elsewhere in the European Union, in a ruling by
the EU's top court. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) said that EU member
states were obliged to recognise a same-sex marriage between two EU citizens
that had been "lawfully concluded in another member state". The
ruling covers the case of a Polish couple who married in Berlin in 2018. When
they decided to move to Poland, authorities refused to accept their marriage
certificate as Polish law does not recognise same-sex marriage.
The ECJ made clear that Polish
domestic law would not have to be changed to recognise marriages between people
of the same sex. Since the Netherlands recognised same-sex unions in 2001, a
number of other EU countries have followed suit, but others, such as Poland,
Hungary and Slovakia, have not. In September, Slovakia's populist-nationalist
government changed its constitution to allow only heterosexual couples to adopt
children. In its ruling on Tuesday, the ECJ said that while marriage rules fell
within each member state's competence, "countries were required to comply
with EU law in exercising that competence".
As EU citizens, the Polish couple
who married in Germany had the right to freedom of movement and the right to
lead a family life, the court explained. "In particular by virtue of
marriage, they must have the certainty to be able to pursue that family life
upon returning to their member state of origin," it added, so forcing them
to live as an unmarried couple in Poland was contrary to EU law and infringed
their rights Poland's pro-European coalition government has tried to advance
the rights of same-sex couples, but its move could be vetoed by conservative
President Karol Nawrocki. The ECJ's ruling was welcomed by Katarzyna Kotula, a
secretary of state and coalition ally of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who
said it was an important step on the path to marriage equality. Meanwhile,
centre-left member of the European Parliament Krzysztof Smiszek wrote on social
media that "history is happening".
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