What we can do is support freedom of movement, based on what is enshrined in the treaties: that each EU citizen can travel and live in all EU Member States, and that has to be true for same-sex couples as well.
The problem with the issue Markus raises is that family law is still something that Member States preserve for themselves… So, on lesbian and gay marriage, it’s not something that the EU can impose on member states, but it’s something that Member States still decide on their own. And I have been fighting for this all of my political life, being an openly lesbian politician myself, and being the first one in Austria, almost 20 years ago. Well, I would reply to Markus that this is what the LGBT Intergroup is fighting for. Lunacek is the second of the two Co-Presidents of the LGBT Intergroup in the European Parliament. I would rather live with those variations in the rules than live in an anti-democratic Europe dominated by European institutions that simply don’t feel the need to respond to the wishes of citizens.įinally, we spoke to Ulrike Lunacek, an Austrian MEP for Die Grünen – Die Grüne Alternative, and Vice-Chair of the Greens in the European Parliament. And, so far as I’m concerned, if you have different nations then you will get variations between the way the rules work in one country and another. Well, Markus may wish to be governed by European institutions, but I would prefer to be governed by a democratic government that I have elected in Britain. He may disagree with the principle of same-sex marriage, but how would he respond to Markus’ experience, and the idea that civil status bestowed in one Member State should be recognised in all others?
In the past, Helmer has described same-sex marriage as “vandalising an ancient institution for the sake of a modish whim”. One vocal critic of same-sex marriage is Roger Helmer MEP, a member of the UK Independence Party (part of the Eurosceptics in the European Parliament). We wanted to get some reactions from policymakers to Markus’ experience, so we took his comment to Michael Cashman, at the time a British Labour MEP (part of the Social Democrats in the European Parliament) and one of the Co-Presidents of the LGBT Intergroup. So, because she is not recognized as my partner she cannot open a bank account (she can only have a joint account with me). She can come here as my partner, but the civil partnership we are in is not recognized by the member state we moved to (they only recognize homosexual civil partnerships). However I can come to the member state as I am a student at an institution, but she is not. My girlfriend quite properly wanted her own bank account. Having arrived in the member state I am studying in, I brought my girlfriend and daughter. We received a comment sent in by Markus, who told us of his personal difficulties travelling between EU Member States whilst being in a civil partnership: This can sometimes mean that civil status is not recognised when people travel between countries. They will be asked whether they want to change the country’s constitution to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry.įamily law (including civil status and marriage) is currently decided at the national level by Member State governments, so different EU Member States can have different rules regarding civil status. Voters in the Republic of Ireland will take part in a referendum on legalising same-sex marriage on Friday 22 May.