European pro-family groups have warned that a new EU report under consideration by the European Parliament 
could pave the way for same-sex marriage being forced on Member States.
The document, “Report on civil law, commercial law, family law and private international law aspects of the Action Plan Implementing the Stockholm Program” is intended to make Member States mutually legally recognise each other’s “civil status documents”, including marriage certificates.
Paragraph 40 of the report proposes that civil documents, including marriage certs, be given de facto legal effect throughout the EU by requiring Member States to grant “all social benefits and other legal effects attached to it”.
This could mean that Member States would be forced to indirectly recognize same-sex unions as equal to marriage even if such recognition does not exist in the respective country’s legal system.
Paragraph 40 of the Berlinguer Report reads as follows:
“The European Parliament stresses the need to ensure mutual recognition of official documents issued by national administrations; welcomes the Commission’s efforts to empower citizens to exercise their free movement rights and strongly supports plans to enable the mutual recognition of the effects of civil status documents; calls for further efforts to reduce barriers for citizens who exercise their rights of free movement, particularly with regard to access to the social benefits to which they are entitled and their right to vote in municipal elections”.
As currently drafted, the report, if passed, would entail the EU being involved in making marriage law for Member States, an area in which it does not have competence.
European Dignity Watch, a pro-family organisation that works at the EU level said that the proposal posed “an obvious risk to undermine the sovereignty of the Member States in family law and specifically the definition of marriage in their own country”.
The group also noted that, if the report were to become law, it would mean that article 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights would become operative in respect of marriage law in all the Member States.
“A Member State’s refusal to acknowledge the ‘married’ status of a same-sex couple and its effects would fall under the non discrimination clause and therefore deemed illegitimate,” the group said.
This would mean a de facto establishment of an EU-wide right to same-sex marriage, it added.
The report is scheduled for a vote the 24th of November.