Registry offices in Poland must recognize same-sex marriages contracted abroad, Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński announced on Friday after signing a regulation to this effect.
“Court rulings are always enforced,” Kierwiński wrote on X following a landmark decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).
Last week, the Warsaw city hall for the first time recognized the marriage of two men who had married in Berlin in 2018.
To secure this recognition, the couple had to take their case to the Luxembourg-based court.
This was in response to the refusal of authorities in Poland after they moved to the country to enter the marriage in the civil register, since the Polish constitution defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
However, the CJEU gave its support to the couple, having ruled in November that EU member states must recognize same-sex marriages contracted elsewhere in the bloc.
EU citizens must have the certainty that they can continue their family life in different EU countries as part of their freedom of movement, the judges in Luxembourg ruled.
In March, Poland’s Supreme Administrative Court ruled that same-sex marriages contracted in other EU member states must be recognized by the Polish state.
With this, the court has transposed the ECJ ruling into Polish law. Kierwiński’s order will come into force three months after its publication and will then be binding in all registry offices.
