Recognition of same-sex unions in Europe
As of January 2025, 22 European countries legally recognise and perform same-sex marriages: Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
An additional nine European countries legally recognise some form of civil union, namely Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Monaco, Montenegro, and San Marino.
Marriage is defined as a union solely between a man and a woman in the constitutions of Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia and Ukraine.
Over the years, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has handled cases that challenged the lack of legal recognition of same-sex couples in certain member states.
Oliari and Others v Italy (21 July 2015)[6] went further and established a positive obligation upon member states to provide legal recognition for same-sex couples.
[7] Chapin and Charpentier v France (9 June 2016)[8] largely confirmed Schalk and Kopf v. Austria, holding that denying a same-sex couple access to marriage does not violate the convention.
[11][12] The ECHR informed the Polish government that it had accepted complaints about the lack of access for same-sex couples to marriage or civil partnerships in Poland (2020).
The Court found that the Polish State had failed to ensure a legal framework providing for the recognition and protection of their same-sex unions, preventing the applicants from formalising fundamental aspects of their lives, which amounted to a breach of their right to respect for their private and family life.
[14] In 2010, Romanian LGBT activist Adrian Coman and his American partner, Robert Claibourn Hamilton, married in Belgium, and subsequently attempted to relocate to Romania.
[17][1] According to research from the European Parliament, some EU states still do not in practice grant residency to same-sex spouses, as required by Coman v. Romania.
[2] (0.3% of the European population) Italy: Since October 2022, several bills to legalise same-sex marriage and adoption have been tabled by all major opposition parties (PD, M5S, Azione - Italia Viva and Alleanza Verdi e Sinistra).
[94] Lithuania: In May 2022, a group of MPs drafted a civil union bill which would provide limited protections for registered same-sex couples.
According to a Eurobarometer poll in 2023, public support for same-sex marriage in EU member states was highest in Sweden (94%), the Netherlands (94%), Denmark (93%), Spain (88%), Ireland (86%), Luxembourg (84%), Germany (84%), Portugal (81%), Belgium (79%), and France (79%).
According to a Eurobarometer poll in 2015, public support for same-sex marriage in EU member states was highest in the Netherlands (91%), Sweden (90%), Denmark (87%), Spain (84%), Ireland (80%), Belgium (77%), Luxembourg (75%), the United Kingdom (71%) and France (71%).
In Croatia, a poll conducted in November 2013 revealed that 59% of Croats think that marriage should be constitutionally defined as a union between a man and a woman, while 31% do not agree with the idea.
