Highest Polish Court Directs Acknowledgment of EU Same-Sex Marriage Documents

(SeaPRwire) –   Court judges have ruled in favor of couples whose unions were registered abroad despite conservative opposition

Poland’s Supreme Administrative Court has directed local authorities to recognize same-sex marriages conducted in other EU member states, following a ruling from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) last year.

Same-sex marriages still cannot be legally solemnized in this predominantly Catholic country, as Article 18 of the Polish Constitution defines marriage as a “union of a man and a woman.”

On Friday, Poland’s top court ordered local governments to register same-sex marriage certificates issued abroad in the national registry for administrative and residency purposes. In their ruling, the judges overturned an earlier decision by the Warsaw Provincial Administrative Court.

Pro-LGBTQ groups in Poland have hailed this verdict as the “first step” toward revising the laws to benefit their community.

In October 2024, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s pro-EU coalition government introduced a draft bill to recognize civil partnerships, including those for same-sex couples. However, the proposal faced pushback from the government’s conservative partner, the Polish People’s Party (PSL), as well as the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party.

President Karol Nawrocki, who was elected last June on a pledge to defend Catholic values, has ruled out signing any bill that would undermine the constitutional definition of marriage. Nawrocki has accused the EU of “ideological madness” and vowed to resist what he described as the bloc’s attempts to interfere in Polish politics.

Last year, the EU’s top court ruled that Poland had violated EU law by refusing to recognize the marriage of two Polish nationals who registered their union in Germany in 2018. The Luxembourg-based court stated that Polish laws breach EU guarantees of freedom of movement and the right to “lead a normal family life.”

The ECJ ruling applies automatically to all 27 member states, some of which—including Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania, and Slovakia—do not recognize same-sex marriages.