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Top EU court rules same-sex partners have residence rights
LUXEMBOURG, June 5, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Same-sex partners of EU citizens have
the right to live in any member state whatever their nationality, even in
countries that do not recognise gay marriage, the bloc’s top court ruled
Tuesday.
EU laws on freedom of movement extend to the non-European spouses of EU
citizens and the European Court of Justice judgement means this also includes
same-sex partners.
The decision, based on a case from Romania, risks further embittering
relations between more socially tolerant member states to the west of the EU
and conservative countries to the east.
The Luxembourg-based court recognised that EU member states “have the
freedom whether or not to authorise marriage between persons of the same
sex”.
However, it added “they may not obstruct the freedom of residence of an EU
citizen by refusing to grant his same-sex spouse, a national of a country
that is not an EU member state, a derived right of residence in their
territory.”
The court was ruling in the case of Romanian man Relu Coman and his
American husband Robert Hamilton, who were married in Brussels in 2010 and
two years later sought to move to Romania.
The Romanian authorities refused to give Hamilton permission to live in the
country for more than three months on the grounds that he could not be
classified as Coman’s spouse because the laws there do not recognise same-sex
marriage.
The couple brought a case for discrimination on the basis of sexual
orientation, arguing that Coman’s right to freedom of movement, guaranteed by
EU law, had been curtailed by the restriction placed on his husband.
The case went to the Romanian Constitutional Court, which asked the ECJ
whether under EU law Hamilton should be regarded as Coman’s spouse.
“In the directive on the exercise of freedom of movement, the term
‘spouse’, which refers to a person joined to another person by the bonds of
marriage, is gender-neutral and may therefore cover the same-sex spouse of an
EU citizen,” the ECJ said.
– ‘Victor for equality’ –
EU member states are free to decide whether or not to allow same-sex
marriage in their own territories, the court said, but refusing to recognise
a union lawfully made in another EU country “may interfere with the exercise
of that citizen’s right to move and reside freely”.
The court said the obligation to recognise same-sex marriages for the
purpose of granting residence rights “does not undermine the national
identity or pose a threat to the public policy” of the country involved.
“We can now look in the eyes of any public official in Romania and across
the EU with certainty that our relationship is equally valuable and equally
relevant, for the purpose of free movement within the EU,” Coman said in a
statement released by ILGA-Europe, which campaigns for rights for gay,
lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
“We are grateful to the EU Court and to the many people and institutions
who have supported us, and through us, other same-sex couples in a similar
situation. It is human dignity that wins today.”
The Romanian courts will now have to rule on Coman and Hamilton’s case
based on the ECJ judgment.
Evelyne Paradis, ILGA-Europe executive director, said Tuesday’s ruling was
a victory for “equality, fairness and pragmatism”.
The court “has confirmed that rainbow families should be recognised equally
in the eyes of the law on freedom of movement. Now we want to see the
Romanian authorities move swiftly to make this judgment a reality,” Paradis
said in a statement.
BSS/AFP/RY/1815 hrs