The European Union's highest court on Tuesday ordered Poland to recognise a gay marriage registered in Germany after officials refused to record the union of two Poles married in Berlin in 2018.
The couple, one of whom also has German nationality, had been living in Germany. They tried to move to Poland and asked officials to register their marriage certificate, but they were refused because Polish law does not allow marriage between people of the same sex.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) said the couple had the freedom to move and live in any EU country and the right to lead a normal family life. It said such a refusal was against EU law and infringed that freedom along with the right to respect for private and family life.
The Polish NGO Campaign Against Homophobia (KPH) welcomed what it called a "very positive" decision.
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A 'step forward'
In advance of Poland establishing its own legislation, "the transcription of a foreign marriage certificate into Polish and its registration in Polish records already represents a significant step forward", said Przemyslaw Walas, a KPH official.
Polish associations estimate that between 30,000 and 40,000 Polish citizens have contracted marriages abroad. They now expect a rise in couples bringing their cases to city halls after the ruling.
Poland's Education Minister, Barbara Nowacka, on Tuesday welcomed the court's decision as "an important victory for the respect of rights and dignity", while leftist senator Magda Biejat called it a "historic decision".
But on the political right, several figures blasted what they saw as an assault on Polish sovereignty, with some going as far as to demand a "Polexit" – Poland's withdrawal from the EU.
For conservative former justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro – currently in Hungary amid allegations of misappropriation of public funds – the ruling "wholly subjects member states to the leftist agenda".
Conservative agenda
Traditionally Catholic Poland has not carried out the social and secular reforms seen in many European countries since the early 2000s.
It is one of the last European countries, along with Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia, still to block either marriage or civil unions for same sex couples, according to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA).
In Poland, only marriage formalises the union between two people – and exclusively people of opposite sexes – while its 2021 abortion legislation is one of the most restrictive in Europe.
The centrist coalition ruling Poland under Prime Minister Donald Tusk has recently embarked upon reform initiatives.
But the executive now has to negotiate political cohabitation since the election in June of nationalist conservative Karol Nawrocki as President.
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At the instigation of leftist parties, the coalition introduced a civil unions bill in October, including for same-sex couples, which Tusk described as a "small step forward".
Nawrocki, a devout Catholic backed by the Law and Justice party (PiS), which has been behind numerous conservative laws passed since 2015, has warned he will not sign any legislation that would turn civil unions into "quasi-marriages" and would also veto any measure to liberalise abortion laws.
In its statement Tuesday, the ECJ noted the inclusion of a union between two people of the same sex enshrined in national law remains the responsibility of each member state.
The conditions for recognising such unions concluded in another country also remain the prerogative of each individual EU member but recognition must grant the same rights as those provided for in acts of union for which transcription is requested.
(with AFP)
