Romanian same-sex couples formally ask the state to recognise their EU marriages

Romanian same-sex couples are formally asking the state to recognise their EU marriages for the first time

ACCEPT România has launched a legal procedure to transcribe same-sex marriage certificates from other EU states into Romanian civil registers, backed by a landmark 2025 European Court of Justice ruling.

On 13 May, in a ceremony in Bucharest, the first same-sex couples signed official requests asking Romania to transcribe their marriage certificates into the national civil register. The move is backed by ACCEPT România, the country's leading LGBTQ+ rights organisation, and follows a binding November 2025 ruling by the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the case Cupriak-Trojan v. Mazowieckie Voivode, which established that all EU member states must transcribe same-sex marriage certificates from other EU countries into their national civil registers, regardless of domestic law. Poland has already transcribed its first certificate.

Romania's Civil Code currently expressly prohibits the transcription of foreign same-sex marriages. But ACCEPT argues the CJEU ruling supersedes Romanian domestic law under the principle of EU legal supremacy. Couples who married legally in Spain, Germany, the Netherlands or any other EU member state find that their legal status simply disappears when they cross into Romania. They cannot make medical decisions for each other, represent each other in emergencies, inherit joint assets or access tax benefits available to married couples.

Among those present at the ceremony were Cristina and Jadwiga, who married in Spain after living there for several years and have now returned to Romania. They described wanting nothing more than to grow old in their home country with their marriage recognised. Alex and Cristian, now living in Germany, joined by video.

Romanian Ombudsperson Renate Weber attended the ceremony and said she would address Parliament to request the repeal of the Civil Code article prohibiting recognition of same-sex marriages concluded abroad. She said it was difficult to accept that Romania, an EU member state for nearly 20 years, still did not recognise same-sex families.

Over three million Romanians have emigrated. Many are LGBTQIA+. ACCEPT is asking the civil registry offices across the country to apply the CJEU ruling now, without waiting for parliament to act.

Via ACCEPT România