Maria-Manuel Leitão-Marques MEP (S&D, Portuguese) presented, on Monday 3 July, her draft report on the Commission’s proposal for a regulation on the European Certificate of Parenthood to the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI).
Ms Leitão-Marques spoke in favour of the approach published by the Commission in December 2022 (see EUROPE 13079/9).
During her speech, the Portuguese MEP expressed her concern about “possible abuses” linked to the exemptions provided for in the proposal, which would allow Member States not to recognise parenthood established by another Member State for reasons of public policy. With this in mind, Maria-Manuel Leitão-Marques proposed strengthening the safeguards to prevent any discrimination, particularly on the basis of sexual orientation, “if a majority in Parliament is in favour of retaining these exemptions”. And to clarify: “I’m not convinced that this is possible, which is why I’m proposing that you remove these exemptions”.
The rapporteur also stressed the importance of reducing the administrative burden on families, proposing in particular to simplify the process of issuing the certificate and to introduce a strict time limit of fifteen days. She also argued in favour of a digital approach enabling families to apply for recognition without having to travel.
Finally, Ms Leitão-Marques stressed the need to train judges and the competent authorities to ensure that the regulation is properly applied.
The shadow rapporteurs - Pierre Karleskind (Renew Europe, French) and Antonius Manders (EPP, Dutch) - expressed their support for Ms Leitão-Marques’ proposals. They did, nevertheless, clarify their respective positions on public policy exemptions.
Pierre Karleskind suggested considering real-life examples where the public policy exemption could be justified in order to assess whether this clause should be retained in the text. He also suggested introducing a presumption of recognition to allay fears that the text might be called into question.
For his part, Antonius Manders pointed out that the Commission’s text already addressed the risks of abuse of this exception and called for the closest possible reference to the Commission’s proposal in order to avoid any confusion and allow for a more gradual approach when the EU Council examines the report.
Maria Vilar, representative of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Justice (DG JUST), stressed the importance of the public policy exemption: it is “a sine qua non in this type of text linked to international law”. While she acknowledged that abuses could occur, she pointed out that the Commission, as “guardian of the Treaties”, was responsible for ensuring that this exception was properly applied, in particular in accordance with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. In the event of proven abuse, Ms Vilar assured that the Commission would have to reflect on the measures to be taken to remedy the situation.
Amendments are expected by 14 July.
To see the report: https://aeur.eu/f/7wg (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)