While the Brussels Pride March will take place on Saturday, following the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Transphobia and Intersexophobia (IDAHOT) yesterday, the adoption of the European Commission’s proposal on a new Council regulation on the recognition of parenthood continuous to be stuck in the Council.
The European Commission proposed in December 2022 a Council regulation on the recognition of parenthood between EU member states. The proposal aims at ensuring that parenthood established in one EU member state is recognized in all other member states in order to protect children’s rights in cross-border situations and to facilitate family travel in the EU.
The proposal includes the creation of a European Certificate of Parenthood and covers the recognition of the parenthood of all children irrespective of how they were conceived or born (e.g., by surrogacy) and irrespective of their type of family (e.g., same-sex parents), and irrespective of the nationality of the child and of its parents. However, the proposal did not advance during the previous Swedish and Spanish EU Presidencies.
The proposal is supposed to be adopted in a special legislative procedure without trilogue negotiations between the European institutions but still requires unanimity by the Council after consultation with the Parliament. Hungary and Poland have announced that they oppose the proposal.
While Poland might have dropped its opposition against the proposal, today more EU member states appear to oppose legislation to defend the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) persons. On 17 May, the IDAHOT day, at a high-level conference hosted by the Belgian EU Presidency, only 18 of the 27 member states pledged to continue defending their rights.
The declaration does not explicitly mention the Commission’s proposal but calls on all EU member states to reaffirm their commitment to advancing equality and preventing and combating discrimination, specifically on the basis of gender identity, gender expression, sex characteristics and sexual orientation.
More specifically, it calls on them to further advance the legal protection and recognition of the fundamental rights of LGBTIQ+ persons; provide for legal status for same-sex couples, in application of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights; and continue working towards ensuring full freedom of movement for all LGBTIQ persons and their families.
Asked if the Commission’s proposal is off the table, a diplomatic source in the Belgian EU Presidency told The Brussels Times that it is one of its priorities under civil law and that an “orientation debate” is foreseen at next Justice and Home Affairs Council in June. However, there is still no consensus and an agreement is unlikely to be reached before the hand-over of the EU Presidency to Hungary on 1 July.
Where does Belgium stand?
Belgium is supportive of the rights of LGBTIQ+ persons but continues to put obstacles in the way for the recognition of same-sex parenthood. A family living in the commune of Saint-Gilles told The Brussels Times that their twin sons, aged 4, had received letters from the commune that they had to leave the country because they could not be registered.
The children have ID cards and birth certificates issued by neighboring France but the commune refused to register them becaue they live in a same-sex family. To solve the problem, the parents would have to adopt their own children.
After receiving the parents’ complaint, the bourgmestre (mayor) of Saint-Gilles, Jean Spinette, apologized on behalf of his administration and agreed to register the children in the commune although it could be against Belgian law. He would also intervene on federal government level to change the law.
“The twins are too young to understand that their daddies’ legal status is put in question by certain jurisdictions,” Dan Sobovitz, one of the parents, commented. “They know that we are their daddies regardless of where we go. I keep the legal and administrative struggle away from them.”
He added that the mayor had not been aware of the legal issue. As soon as he became aware of it, he promised that he would sign their registration as residents in the commune and then try to change the system on federal level so that such cases will not repeat themselves in any commune in Belgium.
Are you more optimistic about a legal change in Belgium than the adoption of the Commission’s proposal? “To be honest, a change at the federal Belgian level seems more likely than the adoption of the proposal which probably will be vetoed by some EU member states. Enhanced cooperation among the member states to overcome the stalemate could be a solution.”
However, after several reminders to Saint-Gilles about a confirmation of the registration, he was disappointed to find out that the commune had not kept its promise and only registered one of the parents as parent of the twins. The mayor and his cabinet did not reply to requests from The Brussels Times for a comment.
Sobovitz is still optimistic. “If you are LGBT and would like to become a parent, biology is not your main problem,” he twitted on X. “Regulation is. The good news: regulation can, should and will be changed.”
Update: A previous version of the article mistakenly stated that the programme of the Belgian EU Presidency did not include the Commission's proposal. In fact, under "Security for European Citizens" (p 22), the programme says: "To accommodate EU citizens living in cross-border situations, the Presidency will take forward the initiative on the recognition of parenthood between Member States."
M. Apelblat
The Brussels Times
