Speaker of the Sejm Włodzimierz Czarzasty has said he sees no point in submitting another civil partnership bill during the current parliamentary term. He indicated that his party should revisit the issue after the next parliamentary elections. He even spoke of a “more comprehensive version” of the legislation.
President Karol Nawrocki vetoed the government’s bill on the legal status of a close person in a relationship and a cohabitation agreement. “I cannot accept a solution that would lead to the loss of the special status of marriage as defined in Article 18 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. It defines marriage as a union between a woman and a man,” he said.
The President argued that adopting the bill “would create a new institution of family law with a broad catalogue of rights reproducing the core elements of marriage, but without the obligations arising from it.” He stressed that his veto does not end the discussion about the challenges faced by close partners and acknowledged the need to regulate situations in which a person requires the assistance of someone they trust in health-related, organizational, administrative, and personal matters.
Speaker of the Sejm Włodzimierz Czarzasty, however, strongly disagrees with the President’s decision.
“We are living in the 21st century. Everyone has the right to live as they choose. To build a family as they choose, sleep with whomever they choose, and believe whatever they choose. You have to accept that. If you do not understand it, then you are simply mistaken. It is a kind of ideological blindness that has taken hold of you,” Czarzasty said, addressing Nawrocki.
When asked whether The Left (Lewica) would take steps during the current parliamentary term to regulate civil partnerships, Czarzasty replied that he sees no point in doing so because of the President’s stance. He argued that, under the current political balance of power, it would merely provoke unnecessary political conflict.
“I believe we should return to this issue in the next term of the Sejm. And let me be clear – if The Left (Lewica) wins, for example, 60 seats, we will pass it. Perhaps even in a more comprehensive version, because this time we made several compromises,” Włodzimierz Czarzasty said.
However, winning 60 seats appears to be little more than the Speaker’s aspiration. According to the latest United Surveys by IBRiS poll commissioned by the Wirtualna Polska news portal, The New Left (Nowa Lewica) can currently expect support of no more than 7.5 percent.