The European Court of Justice has warned that every Member State must recognise homosexual marriages in another EU country

The Courtof Justice of the European Union (ECJ) today stated that EU Member States are obliged to recognise homosexual marriages in another EU country, even if homosexual marriages are not permitted under the country's internal rules.

The case concerns two Poles married in Berlin in 2018, one of whom also has German nationality, who requested that their marriage certificate be transcribed in the Polish Civil Registry for recognition in Poland. But the Polish authorities denied this recognition on the grounds that Polish law does not permit same-sex marriages.

The case reached the Supreme Administrative Court of Poland, which brought a preliminary question of interpretation of European legislation before the Court of Justice of the European Union. 

In its reply, the Court of the EuropeanUnion states that 'the refusal by two citizens of the Union who have exercised their freedom of movement and residence in the Union to recognize a marriage legally concluded in another Member State is contrary to Union lawbecause it violates that freedom and violates the right to respect for private and family life '.

Member States are 'obliged to accept the legally acquired status of marriage in another Member State in order to exercise the rights conferred by Union law', the Court adds.

However, the court specifies that this does not implythat same-sex marriage must be included in domestic law.

However, when a Member State decides to establish a single way of recognising marriages concluded in another Member State, such as transcribing the marriage certificate in the Civil Registry, it must also apply this means to same-sex marriages.

"Spouses, as citizens of the Union, have the freedom of movement and residence in the territory of the Member States, as well as the right to a normal family life, both when they exercise it and when they return to their Member State of origin," the court has argued.

Its refusal 'may cause serious administrative, professional and private objections, forcing spouses to live as single in the Member State of origin', the Court of Justice of the European Union has specified.