Recognition of same-sex unions in Europe

Main article: Same-sex marriage

Laws regarding same-sex partnerships in Europe¹

  Marriage

  Civil union

  Limited domestic recognition (cohabitation)

  Limited foreign recognition (residency rights)

  Unrecognized

  Constitution limits marriage to opposite-sex couples

¹ May include recent laws or court decisions that have not yet entered into effect.

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Debate has occurred throughout the European Union over a proposal which would require each member to legally recognize each other's same-sex marriages as well as any member's civil unions and registered partnerships. Debate on this issue has continued for some time, and has recently revived.

Of the 27 member states in the European Union, four legally recognize same-sex marriage, namely Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden. An additional eleven have a form of civil union, registered partnership or unregistered cohabitation. An assortment of cities in Italy have also created forms of registered civil unions, though included benefits are slim to none, making the unions a largely symbolic provision. In comparison, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland constitutionally define marriage as being between a man and a woman.

Current situation

Status	EU member state	Year of implementation
Same-sex marriage (5 states)	Belgium	2003
	Netherlands	2001
	Portugal	2010
	Spain	2005
	Sweden	2009
Civil unions and registered partnerships (10 states)	Austria	2010
	Czech Republic	2006
	Denmark	1989
	Finland	2002
	France	1999
	Germany	2001
	Hungary	2009
	Luxembourg	2004
	Slovenia	2006
	United Kingdom	2005
No recognition (12 states)	Bulgaria	—
	Cyprus	—
	Estonia	—
	Greece	—
	Ireland	—
	Italy	—
	Latvia	—
	Lithuania	—
	Malta	—
	Poland	—
	Romania	—
	Slovakia	—

Future legislation

At the moment, three countries (Luxembourg, Portugal and Slovenia) have confirmed their intent to vote on same-sex marriage bills. A same-sex marriage bill was re-introduced in Portugal after September 2009 after the ruling Socialist Party, won the national election. In Slovenia, the minister announced that the government would vote on a same-sex marriage bill in the near future after the government agreed that same-sex couples were entitled to the same rights as opposite-sex couples. There have also been discussions of Denmark legalizing same-sex marriage, though due to the current party in power, such legislation is not likely this year.

While debates in the nations of Italy and Poland have been far from unknown, national legislation of same-sex unions in any form is very unlikely in the near future due to more conservative views on the debate throughout the nations, mainly due to religious reasons, such as the heavy influence of the Catholic Church in many EU nations.

Ireland is expected to legalize civil unions within December 2009.

Public opinion

Public support from EU members is the greatest in the Netherlands (82%), Sweden (71%), Denmark, (69%), Spain (66%), Belgium (65%), Luxembourg (58%), Germany (52%) and the Czech Republic (52%). However, other polls have also placed Germany and France between 54% to 65%, the UK at 61%. In comparison, support tends to be the lowest from former-Communist states, such as Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. The average percentage of support for same-sex marriage in the European Union is 44%, which had descended from a previous percentage of 53%, due to more socially-conservative nations joining the EU.