Strasbourg court says Romania must recognise same-sex civil unions

The European Human Rights Court in Strasbourg found that Romania had a duty to provide adequate recognition and protection for same-sex relationships as it found Romania violated the right to family life of 21 same-sex couples.

Twenty-one same-sex couples took Romania to the Strasbourg court, claiming they couldn’t enter into any legally recognised union in Romania and that they had no means of legally safeguarding their relationships.

The Court found in particular that Romania had a duty to provide adequate recognition and protection for same-sex relationships, although it had “discretion as to the form and the protections afforded”.

None of the government’s arguments regarding same-sex marriage could outweigh the applicants’ interest in having their unions recognised, the court added.

The European court’s decision comes as no surprise, the President of the National Council for Combating Discrimination (CNCD), Csaba Asztalos, told HotNews.ro, adding that Romania should adopt the legislation on civil partnership.

However, he expressed his scepticism that the parties will assume the management of this problem before an election year.

The decision also came as no surprise to Cristi Danilet, a judge in Cluj, who told EURACTIV about other similar decisions against other states.

”Now, two people living together are just two foreigners living in the same house. If something happens to one of them, the other one cannot visit him/her at the hospital, if one dies, the other one cannot inherit anything because there is no relationship, they are not relatives, they are not spouses”, explained Danilet.

The Strasbourg court’s decision is binding, but the Romanian state will try to avoid implementing it “especially before an election campaign because it’s a sensitive topic, the Romanian Orthodox Church, the extremists will jump again”, the judge said.

“They will use it as a tool against democracy. But, in fact, this decision is a result of democracy. In a democracy, people are equal. They cannot be forced to marry to be protected by the state”, Danilet added.

Iustina Popescu, a human rights lawyer, explained that the decision says what the Constitutional Court (CCR) has said in 2018 in the Coman case: same-sex couples are also families, and need legal protection.

“There are still cases at the ECHR and there will be more convictions against Romania, if the state does not recognize these families”, Popescu said.

She does not see a reason for the state to attack the decision, since the Romanian state did not deny before the Court that there is a need for legal protection for same-sex couples.

According to the Romanian authorities, these rights could be replicated by private contractual arrangements.

Another argument was the existence of negative attitudes on the part of the heterosexual majority, but this was rejected by the European Human Rights Court. This could not override the applicants’ interests in having their relationships recognised, and that allowing recognition of same-sex unions would not harm the institution of marriage, as opposite-sex couples could still marry, the court said.

“The ECHR’s decision to oblige Romania to recognise same-sex families contradicts the ideals we cherish. They chose not to respect the core of Judeo-Christian civilization, the family, made up of a man and a woman, the pillar of our communities for centuries”, said Robert Sighiartau, general secretary of the liberal party PNL.

Other politicians have avoided commenting on the decision.

But the Romanian Orthodox Church had a strong reaction, rejecting any kind of civil union. partnership.

The Church – very influential among politicians – believes that the civil partnership is “a surrogate for marriage and a destructive element of the spiritual and moral order in society”. Defending the “cultural and historical traditions”, BOR said that “no European or international text can oblige states to create a special status for those who cohabit, be they of different sex, or same-sex”.

(Cătălina Mihai | EURACTIV.ro)