EU court orders Poland to recognise same‑sex marriages registered in other member states
The European Union’s top court this week ordered Poland to recognise a same‑sex marriage that was registered in Germany, a ruling that could oblige other EU countries where same‑sex marriage is not legal to give effect to marriages performed elsewhere in the bloc.
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The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) delivered a broadly worded judgment saying “a member state” must recognise same‑sex marriages lawfully registered in another member state when refusal would breach EU protections for private and family life.
The case concerns Jakub Cupriak‑Trojan and Mateusz Trojan, a Polish couple who married in Berlin in 2018 while living in Germany. After Polish authorities refused to recognise their marriage, the couple appealed through Poland’s courts and the matter was referred to the CJEU in 2023.
In its ruling, the CJEU found that Poland’s refusal to recognise the marriage left the couple “in a legal limbo” and could not be justified under EU law. The court said denying recognition breached safeguards for respect of private and family life and ran counter to the freedoms associated with EU citizenship.
The judgment also stressed that freedom of movement protects families that have “created or strengthened” a family life in one member state and wish to continue it after moving to another — a limitation the court said rules out so‑called “marriage tourism.” Couples must demonstrably have built a life as a married couple in the state where they wed.
Legal experts and rights groups welcomed the decision as a significant precedent. “It is a milestone, it is a huge change, maybe even a revolution,” said Artur Kula, one of the lawyers who represented the couple, in comments reported by RTÉ News.
Maja Heban, spokesperson for the Polish NGO Love Does Not Exclude, said the ruling would provide a tool to secure the first Polish marriage certificates for same‑sex couples, calling the symbolic value of an official Polish document that names two people as married “extremely powerful.”
Poland’s justice minister said authorities would implement the CJEU decision, and a minister at the prime minister’s office responsible for equality issues called the ruling “historic.” But the presidency, led by conservative President Karol Nawrocki, criticized the verdict; Nawrocki has opposed changes to Poland’s current marriage law.
The political backdrop is complicated. Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s centre‑right movement pledged civil partnerships for same‑sex couples, but coalition infighting has produced a watered‑down bill that omits explicit reference to same‑sex couples, adoption or parental rights. Rights advocates say the proposal falls short and may face a presidential veto.
Only two eastern EU members, Estonia and Slovenia, currently allow same‑sex marriage; several — including Czechia, Hungary, Latvia and Lithuania — offer civil partnerships. Polling suggests public attitudes in Poland are shifting: support for civil partnerships hovers just under 60 percent, while an Ipsos survey last year found about 39 percent of Poles backed same‑sex marriage.
Legal analysts say the CJEU judgment places a clear obligation on national authorities to recognise marriages registered elsewhere in the EU and could pave a pathway toward broader legal recognition of same‑sex unions in countries that have resisted reform.
“This is the CJEU saying to Poland, you have to recognize these unions, and it’s putting an obligation on the country to implement this judgment,” said Jakub Jaraczewski, a legal expert on EU rule‑of‑law, calling the ruling the strongest possible expression the court could make in the case.
Despite the immediate juridical impact, same‑sex couples returning to countries that do not fully recognise marriage equality may still face administrative and legal hurdles to obtain the full spectrum of rights tied to marriage — from taxation and inheritance to pensions and parental recognition.
The CJEU decision is likely to prompt similar challenges across the bloc and may encourage some same‑sex married couples to return to their home countries, confident their marital status must now be recognised — even as many practical questions about equal treatment remain unresolved.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
