The European Commission proposed new rules on Wednesday (7 December) to make sure parentage links established in one EU member state are recognised anywhere across the Union.
The proposal aims to ensure children’s rights, including the right to identity and non-discrimination, when they move across the EU, and is expected to create controversy in some member states due to the inclusion of ‘rainbow families’, or LGBTQ+ parented families.
“All children should have the same rights irrespective of how they were conceived or born and of their type of family,” said Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders when the proposal was presented.
According to the Commission, around 2 million children across the continent could currently find themselves in a situation where their rights are not equally upheld due to differences in the legal recognition of parenthood among the 27 member states.
The proposal
While the right to free movement is guaranteed by EU law, children moving to other EU countries can still be denied their succession right or child support, which depend on national law. At the same time, parents can lose the right to take decisions on health or education issues if a member state does not guarantee their parental rights.
The proposed rules aim at providing more legal certainty for parents in cross-border situations and to reduce legal costs for families demanding recognition of cross-border rights.
Meanwhile, under the new rules, court decisions on parenthood in one EU country should also be recognised in other member states.
Moreover, the Commission proposed setting up a European certificate of parenthood, which can be used to prove parenthood of a child when moving to another country.
Avoiding legal limbo situations
In the past, discrepancies of parenthood recognition between EU countries have created situations where children end up in a legal limbo.
An example is the so-called Baby Sara case, in which the daughter of a same-sex couple born in Spain was refused a birth certificate by Bulgarian authorities, because Bulgaria does not recognise same-sex marriage and parenthood rights for same-sex couples.
In 2021, the European Court of Justice ruled that, while member states cannot be forced to legally recognise same-sex couples and their parenthood, they must uphold the rights of couples and their children under EU law, including those of rainbow families.
MEPs push for legislation on rainbow families' cross-border rights
Members of the European Parliament pushed the European Commission on Wednesday (23 November) to craft a proposal to enshrine the cross-border rights of ‘rainbow families” into EU law.
However, the Baby Sara case is stalled as Bulgarian authorities refuse to acknowledge both mothers’ parental rights.
EU states’ opposition
While the Commission’s proposal does not change national competences on family law, the new rules are likely to be rejected by those member states which oppose same-sex marriage, such as Poland.
“We don’t want to change the national law,” Reynders said, adding that member states will “stay free to decide who can become parents.”
The commissioner said the EU executive would work to convince all EU countries to approve the new rules, that need to be adopted unanimously in order to enter into force.
“We just want to focus on the rights of the children,” Reynders added.
EU countries split over Commission’s plan to give parents cross-border rights
The European executive is pushing for the recognition of parenthood in one country to result in bloc-wide recognition of familial ties, but the initiative could create a rift across the bloc due to the inclusion of rainbow families.
[Edited by János Allenbach-Ammann/Eleonora Vasques/Nathalie Weatherald]
Source: euractiv.com
