At a Council meeting, in Luxembourg on Friday 5 June, European justice ministers held a policy debate on the draft European regulation on the recognition of parenthood in cross-border situations, which aims to ensure that a parent-child relationship established in one Member State is recognised throughout the European Union. The aim is to protect children’s rights and ensure the continuity of their legal status, even when they cross a border.
As a preamble to the discussions which he chaired, the Cypriot minister, Constantinos Fitiris, stated that, despite more than 30 technical meetings organised on the file, there was “still a long way to go before achieving unanimity on the text” and that differences remained on “essential elements at technical and political level”. The purpose of the debate was therefore to identify the priorities of the delegations and to assess the prospects for an agreement.
The European Commissioner for Justice, Michael McGrath, also reiterated the obligation to respect the rights of all children in the European Union, “regardless of how they were conceived and regardless of the type of family to which they belong”.
While the majority of delegations reaffirmed their support for the general aim of the text, there was some dissent, particularly on the issue of surrogate motherhood (SM).
A number of countries where this practice is prohibited, including Finland, Austria, Spain, France, Italy, Lithuania and Slovenia, have asked for the regulation to include sufficient safeguards to protect their national choices.
The Finnish Minister, Leena Meri, considered it “essential” that the regulation should not change the national legislation of Member States where SM is prohibited.
The Spanish minister, Félix Bolaños García, pointed out that Spain considers SM to be “a form of violence against women in the field of sexual and reproductive health”.
Several delegations, including the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, Malta and Greece, called for guaranteed protection for all children, regardless of how they were born or the composition of their family.
The Belgian minister, Annelies Verlinden, said that the regulation should include “children of same-sex parents and children born through SM”.
In view of the difficulties facing the file, many Member States have called for technical work to continue in order to arrive at a consolidated text. Several delegations, including Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal and Greece, also raised the possibility of enhanced cooperation between a group of States, should the unanimity required in the Council prove impossible to achieve.
Closing the debate, Michael McGrath stated that the Commission would continue to support the negotiations in order to achieve a “well-balanced text”, while the Cyprus Presidency announced the preparation of a new version of the draft regulation with a view to continuing the discussions under the Irish Presidency. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)