Recognition of same-sex unions in Slovenia

Registration of Same-Sex Partnerships Act 2005

A law establishing partnerships was adopted on 22 June 2005,^[1] titled Zakon o registraciji istospolne partnerske skupnosti (ZRIPS).^[2] The law covered only property relations, the right/obligation to support a socially weaker partner, and inheritance rights to a degree. It did not grant any rights in the area of social security (social and health insurance, pension rights) and it did not confer the status of a next-of-kin to the partners. The adoption of this law sparked a political debate in the National Assembly, with Slovenian National Party deputies opposing recognition of same-sex partners. The opposition Social Democrats and Liberals, arguing that the law proposed was too weak, refused to take part in the voting, leaving the chamber. The vote succeeded with 44 votes for and 3 against.

A more comprehensive registered partnership bill passed the first reading in Parliament in July 2004, but was rejected by Parliament during the second reading in March 2005.^[3][4] The bill would have provided for all rights inherent to marriage apart from joint adoption rights.

On 31 March 2005, the Government proposed a new partnership bill, described above, providing access to pensions and property. It was passed in June 2005, published in the official gazette on 8 July 2005, and became effective on 23 July 2006.^[5][1]

On 2 July 2009, the Constitutional Court found that it was unconstitutional to prevent registered partners from inheriting each other's property. It held that treating registered partners differently from married partners constituted discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, breaching Article 14 of the Slovenian Constitution. It gave Parliament six months to remedy the situation.^[6][7] In response, the Minister of the Interior, Katarina Kresal (LDS), announced the Government would prepare a new law, which would legalise same-sex marriage.^[8] This sparked a considerable controversy in the public.^[9]

The Registration of Same-Sex Partnerships Act 2005 was repealed upon passage of the Partnership Act 2016, and ceased to be operational on 24 August 2017.^[1]

Family Code 2011 reforms and referendum

On 2 July 2009, the Minister of the Interior, Katarina Kresal (LDS), announced that Slovenia is likely to legalize same-sex marriage in the near future, citing the Government's commitment to provide equal rights for both opposite-sex and same-sex couples. The announcement stirred some level of public controversy, mainly because it provided grounds for same-sex adoption.^[8]

On 21 September 2009, the Government presented a draft of the new Family Code, which would allow same-sex couples to marry and adopt children.^{[9][10][11][12][13]} The bill went through a period of public debate until 1 November 2009.^{[14][15][16][17][18][19][20]} In December 2009, the Government considered amendments to the bill, which was expected to be voted upon in 2010.^[21] On 17 December 2009, the Government approved the Family Code.^[22][23][24] It was submitted to the National Assembly on 21 December 2009.^[25][26] On 2 March 2010, the bill was approved by the Assembly in its first reading.^[27][28]

On 24 January 2011, the Government announced its intention to change the bill before its final version is passed by the National Assembly. The amendments would be made due to the difficulty of passing the bill. Marriage would be defined as a union between a man and a woman, but same-sex registered partnerships would have all rights of marriage except joint adoption (stepchild adoption would be allowed).^[29][30]

On 7 April, the National Assembly's committee approved the amended bill in its second reading and sent it for a third reading.^[31] It passed its final reading on 16 June 2011.^[31][32][33]

The new law was challenged on 1 September 2011 by a conservative popular movement "The Civil Initiative for the Family and Rights of Children", which called for a national referendum on the issue, and started gathering the requisite popular support.^[34] In response, the Government asked the Constitutional Court to judge whether such a referendum would be constitutional. On 26 December 2011, the Constitutional Court ruled that holding a referendum on this issue is constitutional.^[35] A referendum on 25 March 2012 led to the rejection of the bill.^[36][37]

Partnership Bill 2014

On 14 April 2014, the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities presented a bill to grant partnerships all the rights of marriage, except adoption and assisted reproduction. It was under public consultation process until 5 May 2014.^[38][39] However, the bill's future fate was uncertain due the early parliamentary elections on 13 July 2014, which were held following the resignation of Prime Minister Alenka Bratušek. On 15 October 2014, the Ministry announced another public consultation on a draft, which lasted until 15 November.^[40] In January 2015, Minister of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities Anja Kopač Mrak said that the bill was put on hold while a proposal to legalise same-sex marriage was considered by Parliament.^[41]

Partnership Act 2016

On 22 December 2015, following the 20 December 2015 referendum, which prevented same-sex marriage becoming legal in Slovenia (see below), independent Deputy Jani Möderndorfer introduced a bill to give same-sex partnerships all the rights of marriage, except adoption and in vitro fertilisation.^[42][43][44] The bill would also repeal the Registration of Same-Sex Partnerships Act 2005, and all partnerships would have to be converted to a new institution, called partnerska zveza in Slovene, within the first six months after the bill's date of application.^[1] Partnerska zveza has the same formal registration procedure as marriages. On 10 March 2016, the Government expressed its support for the bill.^[45][46] On 5 April, the bill was approved by the Committee on Labour, Family, Social Policy and Disability of the National Assembly.^[47][48] On 21 April, it was approved by the Assembly, in a 54–15 vote.^[49][50] The National Council did not require the Assembly to vote on the bill again.

On 28 April, the Union of Migrant Workers (SDMS) filed a motion, with 2,500 signatures, in order to be allowed to proceed with a petition for a referendum.^[52][53][54] However, on 5 May, the Speaker of the National Assembly Milan Brglez refused to set a thirty-five-day deadline during which the proposers could collect 40,000 valid signatures to force a referendum, arguing that this and several other SDMS referendum initiatives constitutes an abuse of the referendum laws.^[55][56] He sent the bill for promulgation the next day.^[57][58] It was promulgated by President Borut Pahor and published in the official journal on 9 May 2016.^[59][60] The law took effect on the 15th day after its publication (i.e. 24 May 2016) and became operational nine months later (i.e. 24 February 2017).^{[61][62][63][64][65]}

On 10 May, SDMS challenged Brglez's decision to the Constitutional Court.^[66] On 21 July 2016, the Court rejected the challenge.^[67][68][69]

Bill to Amend the Marriage and Family Relations Act

On 15 December 2014, the opposition party United Left (ZL) introduced a bill into Parliament that would have legalised same-sex marriage.^[70][71] The sponsors of the bill said the goal was to provide equal rights to all members of society, and claimed that the bill would have extended constitutional rights to all groups. The Constitution provides that all have equal rights, but these rights have thus far been denied to same-sex couples.

On 29 January 2015, the Government expressed no opposition to the bill.^[72][73][74] Two of the three parties of the governing coalition SMC and SD backed the bill, as did the opposition parties ZL and ZaAB. The third party of the coalition DeSUS decided to allow a conscience vote in its ranks. Only SDS and NSi opposed it.^[75]

On 10 February 2015, the Committee on Labour, Family, Social Policy and Disability of the National Assembly passed the bill 11 votes to 2 in its second reading.^[76][77]

On 3 March, the Assembly passed the bill in its third reading, in a 51–28 vote.^[78][79][80] On 10 March 2015, the National Council rejected a motion to require the Assembly to vote on the bill again, in a 14–23 vote.^[81][82] The bill was up to the President Borut Pahor to sign.

On 10 March 2015, opponents of the bill announced that they had collected more than 80,000 signatures to call for a referendum. They filed 2,500 of them, as required, in order to be allowed to proceed with the petition for a popular vote.^[84][85]

On 17 March 2015, the leader of the SMC parliamentary group said that, although the party supports same-sex marriage legislation, it would not try to prevent a possible referendum on the issue. United Left, the main proponent of the bill, criticized the statement.^[86] However, on 19 March, the SMC politicians clarified that they were just against blocking proponents from collecting signatures under the petition, and that the party would support the motion to block the referendum, when the signatures are submitted.^[87][88]

On 23 March 2015, a thirty-five-day term began in which the proposers of an eventual referendum against the law had to collect 40,000 valid signatures.^[89] On the same day, a group of 23 deputies from SD, DeSUS, ZL and ZaAB filed a request to call an extraordinary session of the Assembly in order to vote on a motion to block the referendum.^[90][91] On 26 March, the National Assembly voted 53–21 to block the referendum on the ground that it would violate the constitutional provision which prohibits popular votes on laws eliminating an unconstitutionality in the field of human rights and fundamental freedoms.^[92][93]

The proponents of the referendum, who had announced that they had collected 48,146 signatures before the Assembly's vote, said they would appeal the decision to the Constitutional Court, which they did on 2 April.^[95][96][97]

Petition to the Constitutional Court

The Court had the option of declaring the referendum unconstitutional, as Article 90 of the Constitution prohibits referenda on the subject of constitutionally protected human rights. Any referendum in Slovenia is only successful if a majority of participants and at least 20% of all eligible voters vote against the law.

The Constitutional Court deliberated about the appeal in four sessions on 10 June, 9 July, 10 September and 24 September.^{[98][99][100][101][102]} In October 2015, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Ljubljana, Stanislav Zore, intervened politically to signal his support for the referendum.^[103]

On 22 October 2015, the Court officially published its decision, which permitted the referendum to proceed. However, the ruling did not address Article 90 making a new challenge to the referendum possible. The ruling solely regarded the ability of the National Assembly to declare a referendum unconstitutional.^{[104][105][106]}

Referendum

Wikinews has related news: Slovenians reject referendum to recognize same-sex marriage

On 4 November 2015, the National Assembly decided that the referendum would take place on 20 December 2015.^{[107][108][109]} The bill was rejected, as a majority of voters voted against and the votes against were more than 20% of registered voters, as required by the Constitution.^{[110][111][112]}

Adoption cases

On 3 March 2010, the Supreme Court in Slovenia ruled that a male couple with a dual Slovenian-American citizenship, who adopted a baby girl in the United States, were to be recognised as the child's legal parents in Slovenia as well.^[113] On 17 July 2011, the Ministry for Work, Family and Social Affairs allowed for a woman to adopt her same-sex partner's biological offspring, on the basis of a 1976 law. This raised the possibility that such adoption could be possible even if the 2011 Family Code were to be repealed in a referendum.^[114][115]

2018 European Court of Justice ruling

On 5 June 2018, the European Court of Justice ruled that all EU countries that do not recognise same-sex marriages (including Slovenia) must legally recognise such marriages performed in EU countries where they are legal, and grant same-sex couples in which one partner is an EU citizen full residency rights.^{[116][117][118]} The Court ruled that EU member states may choose whether or not to allow same-sex marriage, but they cannot obstruct the freedom of residence of an EU citizen and their spouse. Furthermore, the Court ruled that the term "spouse" is gender-neutral, and that it does not necessarily imply a person of the opposite sex.^[119][120]