The EU’s highest court ruled on Tuesday 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, on the grounds that Polish law does not allow marriage between people of the same sex.
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“The spouses in question, as EU citizens, enjoy the freedom to move and reside within the territory of the Member States and the right to lead a normal family life when exercising that freedom and upon returning to their Member State of origin,” the court said.
It said “such a refusal is contrary to EU law” and “infringes not only the freedom to move and reside, but also the fundamental right to respect for private and family life”.
Freedom to have ‘normal family life’
In predominantly Catholic Poland, the struggle for LGBT equality for years was branded 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.
The EU Court of Justice made the binding ruling at the request of a Polish court handling the case of the men who had contested the refusal to transcribe their German marriage certificate in the Polish registry.
The couple, who wed in Berlin in 2018, have been identified only by their initials in the case. A lawyer for the couple declined to comment on the ruling.
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