Written question to the Commission: Refusal by Member States to implement Coman case

Source: S.H. (Sophie) in 't Veld i, published on Monday, November 5 2018.

Today, we submitted a question to the Commission about the implementation of the Coman case. We have received several signals that Member States are not fully implementing this judgement. For more information on this case, please click here (article is in Dutch). 

Refusal by Member States to implement Coman case

In June 2018 the European Court of Justice ruled that all Member States, regardless of whether they have recognised same-sex marriage, must recognise the right of freedom of residence of married LGBTI-couples, of which at least one person is EU-citizen (C-673/16 - Coman and Others). That notwithstanding, rainbow families travelling or residing in a different Member State continue face discrimination because same-sex marriage or civil partnership is not mutually recognised by national legislation. The recent ECJ ruling indicates that this discrimination should be history soon. However, it has been brought to our attention that some Member States' authorities refuse to implement the ruling, also after citizens have complained about this.

Against this background,

  • 1. 
    Which steps can citizens take if the authorities of a Member State refuse to implement the ruling?
  • 2. 
    Will the Commission launch infringement procedures if Member States do not respect case law of the ECJ on free movement of citizens within the EU in the application of national law on civil status?

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