“The Left and the Polish People’s Party (PSL) have concluded negotiations on civil partnerships. We’ve worked out a good solution,” announced Katarzyna Kotula (The Left), Secretary of State in the Chancellery of the Prime Minister. She added that details of the agreement would be presented next week. “We have a way out of the deadlock,” she said.
News about the compromise on civil partnerships—expected to be finalized on Tuesday—was first reported in the evening by Polish Radio. The reports were later confirmed by Left politicians, Deputy Speaker of the Sejm Włodzimierz Czarzasty and Katarzyna Kotula.
Kotula explained that in recent weeks she and PSL MP Urszula Pasławska had met regularly, working on “a dignified solution that ensures protection and could pass through the Sejm.”
“We have a good way out of the stalemate, and we will announce the details next week,” Kotula said. “This is finally the end of the weeks-long negotiations,” the minister emphasized. “We’re finalizing the last details, and we’ll inform you next week,” she added.
Deputy Speaker Czarzasty confirmed that together with Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz (PSL), they would present the details of the compromise next week.
In June this year, the Left submitted a parliamentary bill on civil partnerships. On July 10, the bill was sent for its first reading in the Sejm. PSL, meanwhile, prepared an alternative draft introducing the legal status of a “closest person.” Although the issue of regulating civil partnerships was included among the government’s legislative priorities in September, no agreement within the coalition had been reached until now.
Speaker of the Sejm Szymon Hołownia announced on Tuesday that work on the bill regulating civil partnerships could begin at next week’s Sejm session (October 15–17). “I’m open to it; we have tentatively scheduled it in the Sejm’s agenda, so we’re waiting for political decisions,” he said.
At the beginning of August, Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated that he had assurances from both PSL and the Left that the two groups were ready to present a joint approach to civil partnerships and “some sort of compromise on the legality of abortion.”
In September, Maciej Berek, Minister for Oversight of Government Policy Implementation, echoed that sentiment, noting that “recent weeks show that the prospects for reaching an agreement are expanding.” “Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz maintains his willingness to find a meeting point between the document being prepared by Katarzyna Kotula and the PSL position, but no agreement has been reached yet,” Berek said, referring to the civil partnerships bill.
The draft bills on civil partnerships and the accompanying implementation act—published on the Government Legislation Center’s website—propose amendments to over 200 existing laws. Under the proposal, partners—whether same-sex or opposite-sex—would be able to: take a common surname, file joint tax returns, gain access to one another’s medical information, inherit from each other, and arrange burial for their partner.
During prior public consultations and inter-ministerial reviews, more than 6,000 comments were submitted on the draft legislation.