The draft legislation – which comes five years after a ruling against the Romanian state by the Court of Justice of the European Union, CJEU, and after several other lawsuits – still needs to parliamentary approval.
The CJEU ruled in June 2018 that Romania must recognize the freedom of residence on its territory for family members, including same-sex spouses.
It said that the same-sex marriage certificate of the partner of a Romanian citizen married in another EU member state should no longer have to be transcribed into Romania’s national civil status register.
However, the court’s ruling did not say that the state must legalize same-sex marriages.
The European Court of Human Rights, ECHR, ruled in May this year that the Romanian state is breaching article eight of the European Convention on Human Rights – the right to respect for private and family life.
The decision came a complaint filed by the ACCEPT association and 21 families against the Romanian state.
In 2019, 42 people sued the Romanian state due to the lack of recognition and legal protection for their families.
The Romanian Interior Ministry said in a statement in July that “the implementation of these provisions is a mandatory condition for Romania, as a result of the CJEU decision”.
