The Case: Two Polish Citizens, Married in Berlin
The case was brought by two Polish citizens who married in Berlin in 2018, one of whom also holds German nationality. After their wedding, the couple sought to have their German marriage certificate transcribed into the Polish civil register, a standard administrative process that would allow their marriage to be formally recognised in Poland. Polish authorities refused outright, citing the fact that Polish law does not permit marriage between persons of the same sex, and arguing that transcription would be contrary to the fundamental principles of the Polish legal order.
The couple challenged the refusal, and the case eventually reached the Polish Supreme Administrative Court, which referred the matter to the CJEU for a preliminary ruling on whether the Polish legislation was compatible with EU law.
What the Court Decided
The CJEU was unequivocal. Whilst it acknowledged that the definition of marriage falls within the competence of individual member states, meaning the EU cannot compel Poland to legalise same-sex marriage domestically, it stressed that member states must nonetheless exercise that competence in compliance with EU law.
As EU citizens, the couple enjoy the right to move and reside freely throughout the Union. When they built their family life in Germany by marrying there, EU law required that they be able to continue that family life upon returning to Poland. Refusing to recognise their marriage, the Court found, would force them to live as legal strangers to one another in their own country of origin, creating serious administrative, professional, and personal hardships.
The Court ruled that such a refusal infringes both the freedom of movement guaranteed under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (Articles 20 and 21 TFEU) and the right to respect for private and family life enshrined in Article 7 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
Crucially, the judges also determined that the obligation to recognise does not undermine Poland's national identity or public policy. Poland is not being asked to rewrite its constitution or introduce same-sex marriage into domestic law. It is simply being required to give legal effect to a marriage that was perfectly valid where it was concluded.
On the question of procedure, the Court noted that member states retain discretion in how they recognise foreign marriages. However, since transcription into the civil register is the only mechanism Polish law provides for recognising marriages concluded abroad, Poland must apply that mechanism equally to opposite-sex and same-sex couples alike.
Why This Matters
This ruling represents one of the most significant advances in EU-level LGBTQ+ rights in recent years, and its implications stretch well beyond one Polish couple.
Poland and Hungary have long been flashpoints for LGBTQ+ rights within the EU. Poland's government has historically described itself as defending "traditional family values," and large swathes of the country were designated so-called "LGBT-free zones" by local authorities around 2019 and 2020, a move widely condemned across Europe. Hungary has similarly introduced constitutional provisions defining marriage exclusively as a union between a man and a woman.
The CJEU ruling does not overturn those domestic positions. But it does create a binding legal floor: EU citizens who marry in a member state where same-sex marriage is legal cannot have that status stripped from them simply by crossing a border. For same-sex couples in Poland, this means that a marriage certificate from Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands, or any of the growing number of EU countries that recognise marriage equality now carries real legal weight, and Polish authorities are required by EU law to process it.
The judgment also builds upon a significant body of existing case law. In Coman and Others (2018), the CJEU already ruled that a same-sex spouse must be granted the right of residence in the host member state of their EU citizen partner. The new ruling goes further, addressing the right to have that marital status formally recognised in the couple's member state of origin.
It is also worth noting that in December 2023, the European Court of Human Rights held in Przybyszewska and Others v. Poland that Poland had failed to meet its positive obligation to establish a legal framework for the recognition and protection of same-sex couples, a finding the CJEU explicitly referenced in its own reasoning.
A Step Forward, But Not the Final Word
For advocates of marriage equality across the EU, this ruling is a genuine and hard-won victory. It affirms that love and the legal bonds it creates do not simply disappear at a national border.
Yet the path to full equality in countries like Poland remains long. The ruling concerns recognition for the purposes of EU rights, not the full domestic legal equality that same-sex couples in countries such as Spain, the Netherlands, or Germany enjoy. Adoption rights, inheritance, pension entitlements, and a host of other domestic legal protections may still be withheld.
The case will now return to the Polish Supreme Administrative Court, which is bound by the CJEU's interpretation and must rule accordingly. Whether the Polish government will comply swiftly or seek to delay and minimise the ruling's effects remains to be seen.
What is clear is that for LGBTQ+ couples navigating life across EU borders, the Court has sent a powerful message: your family is your family, and EU law will protect it.
Sources: Court of Justice of the European Union, Press Release No 147/25 (25 November 2025)