EU-wide recognition of surrogacy and same-sex parenthood proposed

The European Commission, the European Union (EU) executive responsible for proposing legislation, has proposed new regulation to allow parenthood rights to follow families across member states.

The proposed regulation is a key action in the EU strategies on the rights of the child and LGBT+ equality. Member states would not have to grant legal parenthood to LGBT+ families, or to families created through surrogacy; however, they would be obliged to recognise parenthood relationships legally established in other EU jurisdictions.

'All children should have the same rights irrespective of how they were conceived or born and of their type of family,' said EU justice commissioner Didier Reynders, who presented the proposal.

The Commission estimates around two million children living in the EU could benefit from the regulation. European Commission vice president Věra Jourová, said that the potential lack of parental recognition between EU member states 'puts children at risk, as they would not have guaranteed access to their rights' and that the proposals seek to ensure 'when a family moves from one member state to another, they remain a family'.

A European Certificate of Parenthood is also proposed, which all EU member states would have to recognise, providing greater legal certainty for children.

Currently, EU law requires recognition of parenthood across member states for purposes such as freedom of movement and equality with nationals, but not for other purposes derived from domestic law. This may mean children exercising their freedom of movement within the EU could lose their right to maintenance or inheritance, or to have one of their parents act as their legal representative regarding healthcare and education.

The prospect of introducing the new regulation is controversial in some member states. Poland's justice minister Sebastian Kaleta said that Poland would veto the proposal:

'As long as [this] government is at the helm in Poland, this document will never come into force,' he said, adding that it could open the way to further regulations of family law, such as recognition of same-sex marriages or the idea there are 'dozens of genders'.

National family laws of EU member states would be unchanged by the Commission's proposal, Reynders said they will 'stay free to decide who can become parents,' adding 'We just want to focus on the rights of the children'.

The proposal will now be debated further by the European Council and European Parliament, where it will need unanimous approval to be brought into force.