EU Commission: “Recognize the rights of gay parents in all member countries”

EU Commission: “Recognize the rights of gay parents in all member countries”

“All children should have the same rights regardless of how they were conceived or born and their type of family.” This is the position of the European Commission, expressed by Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders, who today presented a proposal from the European Union executive for the recognition of parenthood in all member countries, even in the case of same-sex couples.

“One of the key aspects of the proposal is that parenthood established in one EU member state should be recognized in all other member states, without any special procedure”, explains the commission in a statement, which with the proposal aims to overcome the “juridical obstacles” for families who find themselves dealing with the legal systems of different countries. “Families sometimes have to initiate administrative or even judicial proceedings to have parental status recognised, but these are expensive, time consuming and can have uncertain results”, underlines the commission, according to which the proposed regulation allows minors “to benefit from rights arising from parenthood under national law in matters such as succession, maintenance, custody or the right of parents to act as legal representatives of the child (for education or health matters).

“Thanks to the new rules, all children and families will enjoy parental rights under national law in all Member States, once their parenthood has been established in a Member State,” said Reynders, who said the proposal “includes the recognition of parenthood of a child with same-sex parents”.

“It is unthinkable that a parent in one member state is not recognized as a parent in another member state,” said Vice President Vera Jourova instead. “This puts some children at risk, as they would not have guaranteed access to their rights, such as succession, maintenance or schooling and education decisions,” continued the Commissioner for Values ​​and Transparency. “Our proposal provides for a clear set of rules on paternity recognition, so that when a family moves from one member state to another, it remains a family. And with this we also reduce costs and time spent in legal proceedings”.