“What are we dealing with here? Let us look not only at the violation of sovereignty. This is a deep interference in Polish family law. Hands off our children. Keep your hands away from our children!” said Mateusz Morawiecki, former Polish Prime Minister, commenting on the CJEU decision regarding Poland’s recognition of same-sex marriage.
A few days ago, the Court of Justice of the European Union (TSUE) issued a ruling that may shake Poland’s legal order. The EU judges ruled that member states are obliged to recognize same-sex marriages concluded in other EU countries, even if domestic law – as in Poland’s case – defines marriage exclusively as a union between a woman and a man. The pretext for imposing new norms on Poland was the case of two men who married in Germany and demanded transcription of their marriage certificate at a Polish registry office.
What is troubling is the swift reaction of Waldemar Żurek, Minister of Justice in Donald Tusk’s government. Appearing on the soon-to-be-closed TVP Info, the Justice Minister openly expressed readiness to implement the EU guidelines despite conservative public sentiment and general resistance to EU law “imposition”. According to Żurek, Poland will “in some way have to implement this ruling”, and the current situation “is just a first step”. These words understandably raise concern, directly suggesting that recognizing foreign acts is only the beginning of broader legislative changes.
Morawiecki: hands off Polish children
The CJEU decision, which directly implies the primacy of EU law over Polish law, has met with strong opposition. Today, Mateusz Morawiecki, former Polish Prime Minister and head of the European Conservatives and Reformists (EKR), addressed the issue.
“The CJEU ruling deeply interferes in the affairs of member states. It is extremely significant for Polish families. This ruling obliges member states to recognize marriages concluded in another country. It is a bit like saying that if drugs were legalized, Poland would have to respect the import of drugs into our country because, for example, in the Netherlands such a law was guaranteed. We cannot accept this,” he said at a press conference.
He added that “sovereignty is an absolutely fundamental condition for the functioning of member states. The EU must focus on topics that are crucial today – competitiveness, reducing (preferably to zero) issues related to the Green Deal, the migration pact. These are the issues the EU must deal with.”
“Meanwhile – we are dealing with a shameless, brazen interference in the legal order, in the family-law order of member states. I would call this the slow implementation of the Rabiej-Tusk plan. When the current Prime Minister was in Brussels, I remember perfectly what he said about same-sex marriage and what his position was. Today, the Rabiej-Tusk plan is being implemented,” he argued.
The Rabiej Plan is a media term for the strategy presented in 2019 in Dziennik Gazeta Prawna by then Deputy Mayor of Warsaw Paweł Rabiej. The plan outlined a “salami tactic” of liberalizing the law: first legalizing civil partnerships, then same-sex marriage, and finally enabling adoption by same-sex couples.
Morawiecki also recalled the earlier remarks by Waldemar Żurek: “Minister Żurek recently said that all CJEU rulings must be implemented into domestic law. What are we dealing with here? Let us look not only at the violation of sovereignty. This is a deep interference in Polish family law. Hands off our children. Keep your hands away from our children!” said the former Prime Minister.
What comes next? Adoption…?
The Law and Justice (PiS) politician expressed deep concern about where the EU court’s decision may lead. In his view, it may be just the beginning of a particularly dangerous process aimed at disrupting the family order and the constitutional model of the family.
“In such a situation, if we have to respect this CJEU ruling, it means that a same-sex couple from another country will be able to use other rights as if they were a married couple. This is where the ruling leads. We cannot accept this. Poland cannot be a puppet in the hands of the Court of Justice judges. We are dealing with the reconstruction of the law of all member states. This is outright usurpation, granting themselves powers that did not exist before. Who gave the CJEU judges the right to decide about the Polish family? Where is their right to shape Polish family law? Hands off our family law. Poland cannot participate in this theatre of pretending that we manage things here while in reality someone else, someone in Brussels, imposes the law on us.”
Morawiecki also recalled the harmful CJEU ruling on Turów: “Another example. Six percent of Poland’s power system – Poles may suffer in winter, without heating or electricity. Why? Because of the ruling of a single judge.”
“I absolutely dislike this. What the European Commission is doing hand in hand with the so-called CJEU is destroying the legal order of a member state. In this case, it strikes at our very heart – the institution of marriage and our children. This is their plan, the Rabiej-Tusk plan. First, quietly, civil partnerships, then same-sex marriage, and finally adoption by such couples. The EU cannot decide the fate of nations. The EU cannot treat a member state like a puppet, like a plaything. We will not participate in this. We do not agree. Let us defend Polish families, defend Polish children, defend Polish tradition from any external interference. Sovereignty is Poland’s supreme right, and I would give everything to defend it,” he concluded.