Threat to national sovereignty

10.9.2010

Question for written answer P-7422/2010
to the Commission
Rule 117
Oreste Rossi (EFD)

Yesterday (7 September 2010) in Strasbourg, Commissioner Reding made the following statement: ‘If you live in a legally-recognised same-sex partnership, or marriage, in country A, you have the right — and this is a fundamental right — to take this status and that of your partner to country B’. This presumably means that, if same-sex marriages are recognised in Spain, the rights they confer on the couples involved should be recognised and guaranteed in all the other Member States as well. The Commissioner's extremely dangerous statement places at risk the Member States' social and cultural harmony. It would be inconceivable to impose a legal framework of rights for same-sex couples indiscriminately on all the Member States, regardless of whether they support it. Yet the Commissioner went on to threaten the national governments with ‘harsh measures’ if they did not take steps to eliminate discrimination against same-sex couples.

The Commissioner's statements conflict with the principle of ‘unity in diversity’ which underpins the European Union.

In view of the foregoing, does the Commission endorse Commissioner Reding's statements?

OJ C 243 E, 20/08/2011