On November 12th, we reported on the possible danger of forcing Member States to recognize same-sex marriage and civil unions - even if not legalized by their national laws - through a procedural gimmick at EU level. The report written by Luigi Berlinguer, an Italian socialist, proposed a cross-border harmonization of civil status documents in the current framework of the Stockholm Program.
Despite great efforts, by various like-minded NGOs, to convince Members of Parliament to support amendments affirming both family law and marital status as matters of national competency, an antithetical Paragraph 40 passed unchanged at the Plenary Session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on November 23rd. The EPP group decided not to table any of the amendments for paragraph 40, the ECR group tabled 3 amendments stressing the principle of subsidiarity and the competence of Member States with regards to family law. However, they did not receive the necessary support in the Plenary vote, so paragraph 40 remained with its original wording.
Although the Berlinguer report is an Initative Report of the European Parliament and does therefore not generate binding EU law, it displays an official position of the European Parliament that can be used for further legislative procedures. Since this is a topic of utmost importance, we will provide you shortly with further background information on these current challenges to both marriage and family.
