Proposal to harmonise the rules concerning the recognition of parental status between the Member States of the European Union in a way that also covers same-sex parents, contains the Equality Package presented by the Commission on Wednesday at a press conference by Justice Commissioner Didier Raiders and Equality Commissioner Helena Dalli, following the conclusion of the weekly meeting of the College of Commissioners.
The package also includes a proposal for a regulation to strengthen public bodies for the protection of equality and support for victims of discrimination. In particular, the proposal provides for the strengthening of the independence, resources and powers of these institutions.
As stated in a communication, the proposal on the recognition of parental status concerns the harmonisation of private international law rules and focuses on the best interests and rights of children.
"It is unthinkable that a parent in one Member State should not be recognised as a parent in another Member State. This puts some children at risk as they will not have guaranteed access to their rights such as inheritance, maintenance or decisions on school attendance and education," explained Commission Vice-President for Values and Transparency Vera Yurova in a statement.
The proposal should be adopted by unanimity of all member states within the EU Council after consultation of the European Parliament.
In particular, the aim of the harmonisation is to provide legal clarity for all types of families living or moving between different EU member states. One of the central elements of the proposal is that recognition of parental status as recognised in one state should be recognised in all others, without the need for a specific procedure.
Community law already provides (on the basis of EU Court of Justice rulings) for the recognition of parental status in all Member States in relation to the rights relating to freedom of movement: access to the territory, right of residence and non-discrimination in relation to nationals.
This recognition, however, does not apply to rights deriving from national law. The Commission's proposal allows children to benefit from rights deriving from parental status under national law, for matters such as succession, maintenance, custody or the right of parents to act as legal representatives of the child (for matters relating to schooling or welfare).
"Our proposal provides for a clear set of rules on the recognition of parental status so that when a family moves from one Member State to another, it remains a family. In this way we also reduce the cost and time spent on legal procedures." The Commission Vice-President underlined.
The highlights of the proposal include determining the jurisdiction of courts in member states over matters relating to parental status, determining the applicable law so that the status of both parents can be taken into account in addition to that of the person who gave birth to the child, and rules to ensure that parental status established in one member state should be recognised in all other member states without any special procedure, as well as the creation in a
As Mr Raiders stressed at the press conference, the proposal does not harmonise substantive family law, which remains the responsibility of the Member States. As recorded in a statement, the proposal complements other rules relating to EU private international law on issues such as succession.
The package also includes a proposal to strengthen equality bodies. As mentioned, the existing EU rules on equality bodies leave discretion to Member States as to their establishment and functioning, which causes divergences between Member States, in particular as regards their competences, independence, resources, accessibility and effectiveness.
The Commission proposes a set of binding rules, including:
enhanced competences by bringing them under the existing Employment Equality Directive and the Gender Equality Directive in the field of social security,
enhanced independence through a legal requirement for equality bodies to be free from external influence including in relation to their budget and staffing,
ensuring that Member States provide the human, technical and financial resources necessary for the effective exercise of all their competences;
accessibility for all victims on equal terms, including persons with disabilities;
consultation on the legislative and policy-making process;
enhanced competences in discrimination cases.
The proposal also provides that the Commission will establish common indicators to assess the impact of the proposed measures and issue a report every five years.
Source: CNA
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