Brussels, 14 March 2025
On Wednesday March 12 in Strasbourg, the European Parliament debated about the European Certificate of Parenthood. An oral question had been asked to the European Commission by the Renew MEP Ilhan Kyuchyuk, from Bulgaria. Through this oral question, the Renew group wants to increase the public pressure on this subject.
For reminder, the European Commission published in December 2022 a proposal of “Regulation on jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition of decisions and acceptance of authentic instruments in matters of parenthood and on the creation of a European Certificate of Parenthood.” The main purpose of this regulation is to force EU Member State to recognize any court decision in matters of parenthood, even if it’s in contradiction of the law in this State.
“A judicial decision on parenthood rendered in a Member State shall be recognised in all other Member States without any special procedure being required” says its article 24. In other words, the decision in one State would have the force of law in the 27 countries of the European Union. A manoeuvre that would force certain States to recognise the filiation of same-sex couples, even if same-sex adoption or surrogacy is not allowed.
One year after the proposal of regulation was delivered by the Commission, the European Parliament gave a favourable opinion to it. Although, this opinion was non-binding according to the chosen procedure.
The proposed regulation is then now in the hands of the Council of the EU, more practically in the hands of the ministers of Home Affairs. It will remain at this level until the twenty-seven ministers have reach an agreement, as unanimity is required on this topic. For the moment, no agreement has been possible due to the highly contentious matter.
This deadlock provokes the anger of the supporters of the text, who wants to find any available solutions. An idea suggested by MEP Ilhan Kyuchyuk would be to that the European Commission would launch an “Enhanced Cooperation”, which is a procedure where a minimum of nine EU Member States are allowed to go deeper in a particular field but without the other Member States being involved. But it would actually concern only countries that already recognize the birth certificates of children born through surrogacy contracts.
At his answer before the plenary session of the European Parliament, the European Commissioner Christophe Hansen responded enigmatically that “if unanimity cannot be reached in the Council, the Commission remains ready to consider possible avenues at that precise moment.”
FAFCE president Vincenzo Bassi recalls that “The practice of surrogacy is a clear violation of children’s best interests, as it constitutes a situation of human trafficking. Many EU-countries forbid this practice and, in accordance to the principle of subsidiarity, the European Union should not try to circumvent national legislations with a EU-wide parenthood recognition, but on the contrary support Member-States in their fight against the practice of surrogacy in cases of cross-border situations.”
Open Letter of FAFCE president Vincenzo Bassi : https://www.fafce.org/fafce-publishes-letter-to-president-ursula-von-der-leyen-on-the-best-interests-of-the-child/
FAFCE Press Release on the publication of the proposal of regulation : https://www.fafce.org/press-release-the-dangers-of-a-european-parenthood-certificate/
FAFCE Press Release on the vote of the regulation : https://www.fafce.org/press-release-i-fafce-declaration-on-a-regulation-on-the-cross-border-recognition-of-parenthood/
