Over 100 NGOs urge Polish government to implement rulings on recognising same-sex marriage

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

A group of over 100 NGOs, including Amnesty International, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and the Supreme Bar Council, have criticised Poland’s government for failing to implement recent Polish and European court rulings requiring the recognition of same-sex marriages conducted in another EU member state.

In a letter to Prime Minister Donald Tusk, they said it set a “dangerous precedent” for the authorities to treat the rulings as “problems of a political nature, rather than an obligation for the state”. They also noted that Tusk’s government had come to power promising to restore respect for the rule of law.

Under domestic law, Poland does not currently recognise any form of same-sex relationships. However, last month, the Supreme Administrative Court (NSA) ordered a registry office to recognise a marriage conducted in Germany between two Polish men.

That followed a similar ruling in November by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in a case brought by the same couple. The EU court found that failure to recognise such marriages infringes the freedom to move and reside within the EU and the right to respect for private and family life.

However, neither ruling has yet been implemented and, in a joint letter to Tusk published on Tuesday, a group of 109 NGOs criticised the government for its lack of action and for suggesting that the NSA ruling applies only to one couple, not universally.

Implementing the rulings is “not merely another political dispute or a difference of opinion regarding the direction of legal changes; it is fundamental to a democratic state governed by the rule of law”, they wrote.

“Right-wing governments have distorted what we understand by the rule of law, treating it as an empty slogan rather than a real principle of state operation,” they continued, before noting that Tusk’s government came to power in 2023 by mobilising society around the idea of restoring the rule of law.

“That is why the signals we’re hearing today are so disturbing,” added the group, citing media reports suggesting that the government would not fully implement the rulings. “In a democratic state governed by the rule of law, the government has no authority to decide which judgments merit enforcement.”

In January, the digital affairs ministry, which is under the control of The Left (Lewica), one of Tusk’s junior coalition partners, announced that it had begun work on adapting the registry system to allow same-sex marriages to be recognised. Currently, only marriages between a man and a woman can be entered.

However, changes to regulations also need to be coordinated with the interior and justice ministries, which are under the authority of Tusk’s centrist Civic Coalition (KO), the dominant force in the ruling coalition.

Last week, interior minister Marcin Kierwiński said that, while the NSA ruling “must be respected”, it related only to “one very specific relationship between the two men who requested a resolution of their case”, reported the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

By contrast, implementing the EU ruling, which relates more broadly to same-sex marriages, “requires changes to Polish law”, said Kierwiński. He noted that such changes would be “very difficult” given that right-wing, opposition-aligned President Karol Nawrocki is likely to veto them.

A similar message was issued on Tuesday by Rafał Trzaskowski, the mayor of Warsaw, whose registry office the NSA has ordered to transcribe the marriage of the couple who brought the case.

In a post on social media published after the NGOs had issued their letter, Trzaskowski, who is a deputy leader of KO, said there was no doubt that the NSA ruling would be implemented. However, he added that more work needs to be done “from a technical perspective” on how it can be achieved.

While, like Kierwiński, the mayor stated that the NSA ruling pertains to only one couple, he added that the government is also working on a way to ensure that marriages can be entered into the system “consistently and effectively”.

When Poland’s current ruling coalition, which ranges from left to centre right, came to power in 2023, it promised to improve LGBT+ rights. However, since then, it has taken very little action in this area, amid disputes between more liberal and conservative elements of the government.

Pledges by KO and The Left to introduce same-sex civil partnerships were abandoned due to opposition from the centre-right Polish People’s Party (PSL).

Instead, last year the coalition agreed on a watered-down version of the plans that would grant certain rights to unmarried partners, including same-sex couples, without creating a formal institution of civil partnerships.

However, since being approved by the government in December, the legislation has not even come up for a vote in parliament.

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: Miłość Nie Wyklucza/Flickr (under CC BY-ND 2.0)

Olivier Sorgho

Olivier Sorgho is senior editor at Notes from Poland, covering politics, business and society. He previously worked for Reuters.