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The government’s majority in parliament has approved a bill that would allow unmarried partners, including same-sex couples, to sign an agreement granting them certain rights. That would make a breakthrough in a country where no form of same-sex union is currently possible under domestic law.
However, President Karol Nawrocki, who is aligned with the right-wing opposition, made clear this week that he would exercise his right to veto the bill once it is sent to him by parliament. He argues that it would create an alternative form of marriage.
On Friday, the Sejm, the more powerful lower house of parliament, voted on a government bill that would allow couples, both same-sex and opposite-sex, to enter into a new type of contract that would be signed before a notary and then submitted to the registry office. It would grant them some of the rights available to married couples, including joint property and tax settlement, access to their partner’s medical information, exemption from inheritance and gift taxes, and the right to decide about their partner’s burial if they die.
The bill was the result of a hard-fought compromise within Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s ruling coalition, which ranges from left to centre right. His own centrist Civic Coalition (KO) party and one of its junior partners, The Left (Lewica), support introducing same-sex civil partnerships. However, more conservative elements in the government, in particular the centre-right Polish People’s Party (PSL), are opposed to that idea. As a result, the coalition announced last year that it had instead settled upon the current solution.
On Friday, the Sejm vote witnessed almost all MPs present from the ruling coalition in favor of the bill, with five PSL members opposing it. The two main opposition parties – Law and Justice (PiS) and Confederation (Konfederacja), also voted against the legislation. Despite the minor PSL rebellion, the bill was approved with 230 votes in favor and 200 against.
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Context notes:
– The article discusses a recent bill in Poland that would allow unmarried partners, including same-sex couples, to sign agreements granting them certain rights, despite opposition from the President and conservative parties.
Fact Check notes:
– The article is an accurate translation of the original content.
