– QUESTIONNAIRE SENT TO THE EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR PARLIAMENTARY RESEARCH AND DOCUMENTATION (ECPRD)

Aim of the questionnaire

The European Parliament Policy Department on Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs is carrying out a research requested by the Committee on Petitions on "Obstacles to the free movement of rainbow families in the EU". Within this framework, we submit to your attention the following questionnaire, which aims at gathering updated and detailed information on the situation of rainbow families moving across the EU and their status when exercising the fundamental right to free movement. The aim of the research is to provide the European Parliament with information useful for drafting reports or resolutions by its competent committees, notably the Committee on Petitions or the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs.

We would be grateful to receive a reply from you as soon as possible, and in any case before Monday the 6th of July.

QUESTIONNAIRE on RAINBOW FAMILIES

Could you please reply to the following questions (and, where appropriate, include a legal reference:

a specific provision of a constitution, law, regulation, or administrative policy, or a court decision):

A. SAME-SEX COUPLES MOVING TO ANOTHER EU MEMBER STATE (CROSS-BORDER SITUATIONS) (1) When a same-sex married couple moves to your country, does your country recognise their marriage:

(a) for free movement purposes (family reunification), by automatically granting entry and residence also to the third-country national spouse of the EU citizen exercising free movement rights, as required by the 2018 Coman & Hamilton judgment of the CJEU?

(b) for other purposes of national law, such as family, tax, social security, pensions, inheritance, citizenship/nationality, and medical law (e.g. hospital visitation and consultation)?

(2) Are married same-sex couples who move to your country recognised as ‘married’?

(3) If not, is their marriage assimilated to some other national law status?

(4) What rights and duties are connected to the type of recognition your country grants?

(5) Is there any difference between the way same-sex and different-sex married couples are treated when they move from another EU Member State to your country?

(6) Are there any requirements as regards the jurisdiction where the same-sex marriage was contracted (e.g. that the marriage must have been contracted in another EU Member State)?

(7) When a same-sex couple in a registered partnership (which might have another name such as civil partnership or civil union) moves to your country, does your country recognise their registered partnership:

(a) for free movement purposes (family reunification), by automatically granting entry and residence also to the third-country national in a registered partnership with the EU citizen exercising free movement rights?

(b) for other purposes of national law, such as family, tax, social security, pensions, inheritance, citizenship/nationality, and medical law (e.g. hospital visitation and consultation)?

(8) If so, is their relationship recognised as a registered partnership?

(9) If not, is their registered partnership assimilated to some other national law status?

(10) What rights and duties are connected to the type of recognition your country grants?

(11) Is there any difference between the way same-sex and different-sex couples in a registered partnership are treated when they move from another EU Member State to your country?

(12) Are there any requirements as regards the jurisdiction where the same-sex registered partnership was contracted (e.g. that it must have been contracted in another EU Member State)?

(13) When a same-sex couple in a durable relationship (an unregistered or de facto or cohabiting couple) moves to your country, does your country recognise their durable relationship:

(a) for free movement purposes (family reunification), by facilitating the entry and residence of the third-country national in a durable relationship with the EU citizen exercising free movement rights?

(b) for other purposes of national law, such as family, tax, social security, pensions, inheritance, citizenship/nationality, and medical law (e.g. hospital visitation and consultation)?

(14) If so, is the couple recognised as an unregistered or de facto or cohabiting couple?

(15) If not, do you assimilate it to some other national law status?

(16) What rights and duties are connected to the type of recognition your country grants?

(17) Is there any difference between the way same-sex and different-sex couples in a durable relationship are treated when they move from another EU Member State to your country?

B. CHILDREN OF SAME-SEX COUPLES MOVING TO ANOTHER EU MEMBER STATE (CROSS-BORDER SITUATIONS)

(18) Do the children of same-sex couples, who have been recognised in another country as having two legal parents of the same sex (the two members of the same-sex couple), continue to be recognised as the children of both parents when the family moves to your country in the exercise of EU free movement rights?

(a) If so, are they recognised as such for free movement purposes (family reunification)?

(b) If so, are they recognised as such for other purposes of national law, such as family, tax, social security, pensions, inheritance, citizenship/nationality, and medical law (e.g. hospital visitation and consultation)?

(19) Does it matter whether the child of a same-sex couple was adopted (jointly or by one member of the couple), or was conceived through assisted reproduction?

(20) Does it matter which type of assisted reproduction was used: (a) insemination involving an anonymous donor or a known donor; (b) insemination at a fertility clinic or at home; (c) insemination at a fertility in your country or in another country; and (d) insemination of a woman who gives birth and intends to raise the child, or implantation of an embryo into a surrogate mother who does not intend to raise the child (and is not a legal parent in the country of birth)?

(21) Does it make a difference if the parents are married, in a registered partnership, or unregistered, de facto or cohabiting partners?

(22) Are the children of same-sex couples who move from another EU Member State to your country treated in the same way as the children of different-sex couples who move from another EU Member State to your country?

(23) Are there any differences in their treatment under national law? If yes, what are these differences?

PE 671.505

IP/C/PETI/2020-013

Print ISBN 978-92-846-7887-7 | doi: 10.2861/68471 | QA-09-21-039-EN-C PDF ISBN 978-92-846-7886-0 | doi: 10.2861/707956 | QA-09-21-039-EN-N

This study, commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the PETI Committee, examines: (i) the obstacles that rainbow families (same-sex couples, with or without children) face when they attempt to exercise their free movement rights within the EU, including examples in petitions presented to the PETI committee; (ii) how EU Member States treat same-sex married couples, registered partners, unregistered partners, and their children in cross-border situations; and (iii) action that EU institutions could take to remove these obstacles.