Doctrine of the CJEU in Pancharevo and Rzecznik, a step back in the exercise of european rights

Abstract

The difference in the regulation of family right in the 27 Member States of the European Union has emerged as one of the key legal challenges for the future mobility of European citizens throughout the European area. The mobility of families from a Member State that allows same–parenthood family models to one Member State that does not creates inevitable frictions and, therefore, conflicts throughout the 27 Member States. The infringement of the national identity of the States of nationals which do not recognise equal parenthood is the argument invoked by their authorities to call into question that same–sex– parent families already created in some States could not have the same legal status in the Member State of their nationality. This is a long–term debate, which we believe will evolve in the future, and which at times has seemed difficult for the CJEU to resolve. In this study we delve into why the partial admissibility of such national interest claimed both in the Pancharevo and Rzeczhnik cases may clearly impede the effective enjoyment of European rights such as freedom of movement and freedom of residence for citizens with the same personal status, as well as the protection of the best interests of minors, the use of the same surnames, and the maintenance of the same family privacy throughout the Union.