Poland begins benefits for same-sex couples married abroad
Summary and headline written by AI from the source article. How we work
Poland’s Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) started providing care allowances to same-sex couples who married outside of the country and registered those marriages in Polish civil registries.
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) previously ordered Poland to recognize these marriages, finding that denying recognition violated EU freedom of movement and family life rights. In March, Poland’s Supreme Administrative Court directed Warsaw’s registry office to transcribe a marriage between two Polish men who wed in Germany.
The Polish government then issued a regulation in August allowing all registry offices to transcribe foreign same-sex marriages, though some cities like Warsaw and Wrocław began doing so earlier in May. As of late August, 84 couples had transcribed their marriages.
While domestic Polish law still doesn’t recognize same-sex unions, Minister for Family, Labour and Social Policy Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk confirmed that ZUS is now processing allowances for spouses needing care, paid at 80% of the recipient’s average salary for up to 14 days a year. Dziemianowicz-Bąk suggested that opposition to domestic same-sex union laws is unintentionally driving Polish couples to marry abroad to gain rights within Poland.
President Karol Nawrocki vetoed a bill in July that would have granted some rights to unmarried partners, including same-sex couples, but stopped short of allowing full marriage or civil partnerships. The ruling coalition failed to override the veto in parliament. Despite a ruling from the Constitutional Tribunal that the transcription regulation is unconstitutional, the government, which views the tribunal as illegitimate, continues to implement it.
