The Court of Justice of the European Union has established a principle that will have a significant impact on the recognition of same-sex families within the Union. The judges clarified that a member state cannot refuse to recognize an equal marriage if it was legally contracted in another EU country, in which the spouses exercised their freedom of movement.
The case of the two Polish citizens
The ruling arises from a case involving two Polish citizens who in 2018 were legally married in Berlin, where same-sex marriage has been recognized since 2017. Wishing to return to Poland, the couple had requested the registration of the marriage certificate in the national civil register.
The application was rejected because Polish law does not provide for same-sex marriage. The refusal was challenged and the matter reached the Polish Supreme Administrative Court, which asked the EU Court whether this lack of recognition was compatible with Union law.
The Court’s reasons
According to the Court, when European citizens establish their family life in another Member State, they must be able to continue it in their country of origin without suffering discrimination related to marital status. Denying the validity of a marriage legally formed elsewhere can lead to concrete obstacles such as administrative difficulties, problems related to residence, succession or mutual guardianship, forcing the spouses to live as unmarried persons.
For this reason, the judges concluded that such a refusal violates not only the freedom of movement and residence, but also the right to respect for private and family life, fundamental principles of the European legal system.
What Member States need to do
The Court clarified that the obligation of recognition does not automatically imply that a State must introduce equal marriage into its legal system. In fact, each country retains a margin of autonomy in defining the methods through which to recognize deeds formed elsewhere.
However, if national law provides for a single procedure to make a marriage contracted abroad valid – as happens in Poland with transcription – this procedure must be applied indiscriminately to all couples, regardless of the sex of the spouses.
In countries where equal marriage is not foreseen, such as Italy, recognition can take place through a civil union, an instrument which since 2016 has given the couple rights very similar to those of marriage.
A ruling which therefore represents a historic and decisive step towards a more uniform application of European citizenship rights and which confirms that the legal status acquired in a Member State cannot be lost by crossing an internal EU border.
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