The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled Tuesday that Poland must recognize same-sex marriages performed in other EU countries, overriding the nation’s constitutional definition of marriage.
The case began in 2018 when two Polish men, legally married in Germany, sought to have their marriage certificate transcribed in Poland’s civil register, according to the court’s press release. Polish authorities denied the request based on the country’s traditional marriage laws, prompting the couple to challenge the refusal through the courts. (RELATED: Ukraine’s Holy War Comes To America)
The CJEU found that refusing to recognize same-sex marriage “lawfully concluded in another Member State” violates EU law by infringing on freedom of movement and “the right to respect for private and family life.”
The ruling requires member states to recognize marital status legally acquired in other EU countries “for the purpose of the exercise of rights conferred by EU law.”
Members of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) open a hearing in a climate change case involving six young Portuguese citizens against 32 countries, in Strasbourg, eastern France, on September 27, 2023. (Photo by FREDERICK FLORIN/AFP via Getty Images)
The ruling clarified that Poland is not obligated to introduce same-sex marriage domestically and noted that EU member states have a “margin of discretion” in deciding recognition procedures.
However, when a country provides a single procedure for recognizing foreign marriages —such as transcribing certificates in the civil register — it must apply that procedure equally to same-sex marriages, the court said.
Article 18 of the Polish Constitution defines marriage as “a union of a man and a woman” and places “the family, motherhood and parenthood” under state protection.
The ruling marks the latest clash between EU institutions and Poland over social policy, as Brussels pushes member states toward uniform recognition of same-sex unions despite constitutional objections from more socially conservative nations.
Tobiasz Bocheński, a member of the European Parliament from Poland’s conservative Law and Justice party, called the ruling “yet another example of an assault on the rule of law” by EU bureaucracy.
“They all seek to steal the powers of nation-states, to strip the citizens of Poland and other countries of the right to decide their own fates,” Bocheński wrote in an X post Tuesday. He characterized the decision as “the forceful backdoor imposition of left-wing policy” that has nothing to do with democracy or freedom.
Wyrok TSUE to kolejny przykład zamachu na państwo prawa oraz traktaty, który jest wykonywany przez biurokrację unijną. Nieważne czy to Komisja, Rada czy TSUE. Oni wszyscy dążą do kradzieży uprawnień państw narodowych; do zabrania obywatelom Polski i innych państw prawa o…
— Tobiasz Bocheński (@TABochenski) November 25, 2025
Michał Kowalski, a member of the Polish Parliament and Law and Justice, agreed the ruling “encroaches on the competencies of states.” He said it attempts to “break the Polish Constitution and impose a definition of marriage from outside” under the guise of equality, calling it an undermining of sovereignty.
