On Wednesday 12 March, MEPs questioned the European Commission and the Council of the EU on the progress of the regulation on the cross-border recognition of parenthood. This plenary debate follows the adoption on 18 February of several oral questions by the European Parliament Committee on Legal Affairs (see EUROPE 13583/14).
Its Chair, Ilhan Kyuchyuk (Renew Europe, Bulgarian), recalled the aim of the text: “If you are a parent in one country, you are a parent in all countries”, in the words of Ursula von der Leyen in 2020.
The aim of this text, presented in 2022, is to put an end to the administrative and legal difficulties encountered by some families, particularly when changing residence.
Despite the support of the Parliament, which validated the proposal in December 2023, the text remains blocked in the EU Council, where it requires unanimity. Italy, Estonia, Slovenia and Croatia refuse automatic recognition of parenthood established abroad because their national legislation prohibits surrogacy (GPA).
From the left to the moderate right, MEPs called for a framework to protect children’s rights and the free movement of families.
Michał Wawrykiewicz (EPP, Polish) insisted: “The aim is to guarantee that every child has all his or her rights, whatever the circumstances of his or her birth”.
Kim Van Sparrentak (Greens/EFA, Dutch), referring to an emergency, condemned situations where “a child with two mothers or two fathers can legally lose their parent by changing countries”.
Maria Walsh (EPP, Irish) pointed out that “this regulation brings clarity and coherence to help families find their way around legal systems which, until now, have been fragmented. This is not just a legal issue. It’s a human issue”.
Conversely, a number of MEPs further to the right supported national sovereignty and the preservation of family traditions.
Ernő Schaller-Baross (PfE, Hungarian) denounced an “intrusion into national competences”.
Jadwiga Wiśniewska (ECR, Polish) claimed that it was a question of “imposing the rainbow ideology”. Irmhild Boßdorf (ENS, German) denounced “an ideological integration of the gender dimension”.
According to Evin Incir (S&D, Swedish), these arguments amount to “an exercise in homophobia and an attempt to deprive children of their parents”.
Faced with the impasse, some MEPs, such as Mario Furore (The Left, Italian), are proposing to activate enhanced cooperation as put forward by the oral questions, allowing a group of Member States to adopt the regulation without unanimity. Opponents see this as a circumvention of democratic choices.
The European Commissioner for Agriculture, Christophe Hansen, representing the Commission, pointed out that “the (mutual) recognition of parenthood is essential for free movement”. He emphasised that the proposal “does not call into question each country’s own family law, but merely guarantees mutual recognition”, calling for work to be done in the “best interests of children”.
He acknowledged that negotiations had been held up by both the legal complexity of the text and political sensitivities. The Commission “remains ready to consider other avenues when the time comes”, if unanimity cannot be reached.
The EU Council representative was absent. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)