The EU's highest court ruled that same-sex marriages must be respected throughout the bloc and rebuked Poland for refusing to recognise a marriage between two of its citizens that took place in Germany.

Warsaw

The European Union Court of Justice has issued a binding ruling requiring all EU member states to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other EU countries. The decision came after Poland declined to recognize the marriage of two Polish citizens who wed in Germany, citing national laws that do not permit same-sex marriage.

While the ruling does not mandate the introduction of same-sex marriage in countries like Poland, it obliges them to acknowledge such unions for the purpose of rights and obligations already recognized by international courts. The case now returns to Poland, where the couple awaits the transcription of their marriage certificate, as the government considers legislation on civil partnerships.

Europe court says same-sex marriages should be recognized across bloc

The EU's highest court ruled on Tuesday that same-sex marriages must be respected throughout the bloc. That is after Poland refused to recognize a marriage between two of its citizens that took place in Germany. The EU Court of Justice said Poland had been wrong in not recognizing the marriage of the couple when they moved back home, on the grounds that Polish law does not allow same-sex marriage. Paweł Now, the lawyer who represented the couple, called the ruling historic and said it marked a new beginning in the fight for equality. Today's decision by the Court of Justice does not introduce marriage equality in Poland. We need to be clear about that. What it does is require recognition of these foreign marriages so that spouses can claim the rights and obligations that under various rulings of international courts already belong to them. It is the opening of a door, the start of a new chapter in the ongoing struggle for equal rights. The EU Court made the binding ruling at the request of a Polish court handing the case of the couple, who had contested the refusal to transcribe their German marriage certificate in the Polish registry. The court said EU citizens have the freedom to move to other member states and to have a normal family life there and upon return to their country of origin. It said this did not require member states to allow marriage between people of the same sex in their national laws. But the court said they are not allowed to discriminate against same-sex couples in the way they recognize foreign marriages. Now the case returns to Poland and we await the final decision. But today they are convinced that they are really very close to finally obtaining that long-awaited document, the transcribed Polish marriage certificate. The marriage certificate with the Polish eagle, with the Polish emblem. In predominantly Catholic Poland, the struggle for LGBT equality for years was abrandoned by those in power as a dangerous foreign ideology. However, the current government has been working on a bill to regulate civil partnerships, including same-sex unions.

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