Speaker of the Sejm Włodzimierz Czarzasty announced that later this year the Sejm will begin work on a bill on civil partnerships, drafted as a result of an agreement between the Polish People’s Party (PSL) and the New Left. He also stated that only after completing work on this legislation will the Sejm turn to changes in abortion regulations.
In October, the Polish People’s Party (PSL) and the New Left presented a bill on the status of a next of kin within a relationship and on a cohabitation agreement. The bill aims to regulate the situation of people in informal unions; it concerns, among other issues, joint property, inheritance, housing and alimony rights, and access to medical information.
Czarzasty said that the bill is currently being processed by the government and is expected to be submitted to the Sejm later this year. He added that at that point the New Left’s parliamentary bill will be withdrawn. It was submitted to the Sejm after the proposal for amending regulations by Minister for Equality Katarzyna Kotula failed to make it onto the government’s agenda.
The Speaker of the Sejm stressed that only after work on civil partnerships is completed will the Sejm move on to the issue of abortion.
Czarzasty said, “This is how I see the sequence. I’d like to finish one thing and then start the other. (…) I don’t see a need to process two bills in parallel at this moment,”.