“It’s a proposal based on equality, for the benefit of children, regardless of the family structure into which they were born or the way in which they were conceived”. At the end of the debate held on Tuesday 30 May in the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI), Maria Vilar, representative of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Justice (DG JUST), returned to the basics of the proposal for a European parenthood certificate, issued in December 2022 (see EUROPE 13079/9).
Ms Vilar made it clear that it was in no way a question of changing family law or national definitions of the family. “Access to surrogate motherhood and assisted reproduction is a matter for the Member States”, she insisted, with surrogate motherhood and medically-assisted reproduction having crystallised concerns during the debate.
The Commission representative recalled that the EU’s objective was to harmonise the regime that applies in order to enable free movement in cross-border cases. When “parenthood for a child needs to be established and there is an international element: parents of different nationalities, parents living in different Member States”, in “cases of divorce or inheritance”, she added.
“It should not be the case that a child is denied access to assets, or that maintenance payments cannot be enforced on the grounds that same-sex unions are not recognised in a Member State”, she said. Faced with some of the more cautious MEPs on this issue, Maria Vilar recalled: “We are not touching the prerogatives of the Member States, we are facilitating the recognition in all Member States of a decision granting parental status”. Before, however, stressing: “When there is a European Union instrument, it is, of course, always subordinate to the Charter of Fundamental Rights”.
And with good reason: the notion of public order has been brought into the debate on several occasions. For Ms Vilar, however, the definition of public order should be “narrow and limited”, so as not to extend it too far. “You can’t say: ‘Ah, if it’s a gay couple, public order. If it’s surrogacy, I’m against it, public order’. This would run counter to the Charter”, she insisted.
And to clarify: “We are only talking about the recognition of parenthood established in a third country. If you have a Member State that recognises parenthood with surrogacy from a third country, the other Member States are not obliged to recognise this parenthood”. (Original in French by Nithya Paquiry)