Morawiecki Slams EU Court: ’Stay Away from Our Children’

The only alternative to the Leviathan of the EU is the restoration of sovereignty to the nation. How about a "Pexit" to keep Poland free?

From The European Conservative

By Rebeka Kis

The clash has reignited a fierce battle over who gets to shape Poland’s family law—Warsaw or Brussels.

Poland's former prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki has condemned an EU court ruling on same-sex marriage recognition as a “blatant attack” on Poland’s family law, warning Brussels to keep “hands off our children” as he accused the Court of Justice of overstepping its powers.

Morawiecki warned that the ruling opens the door for foreign same-sex couples to claim full marital rights in Poland, calling it an attempt by Brussels to “redefine the Polish family from the outside.”

The ruling centered on two Polish men who contracted a civil marriage under German law in Berlin in 2018, and sought to have their marriage certificate transcribed in Poland. Polish law, however, defines marriage strictly as “a union of a man and a woman” and denied the request. 

The Court of Justice of the EU declared that “such a refusal is contrary to EU law,” and “infringes not only the freedom to move and reside, but also the fundamental right to respect for private and family life.”

Morawiecki denounced the ruling at a press conference alongside MPs Paweł Jabłoński and Anna Kwiecień, calling it a direct assault on Poland’s family law. “Poland cannot be a puppet in the hands of the judges of the Court of Justice. … Who gave these judges the right to decide about the Polish family?” he declared.

“I ask, where is the authority of these judges to decide on the shape of the Polish family, on Polish family law? Hands off our children, hands off our family law,” he stated.

The former prime minister warned that compliance with the ruling would mean that homosexual couples from other countries could enjoy full marital rights in Poland, undermining the constitutionally defined family structure. “If we have to respect this CJEU ruling, it also means that a homosexual couple from another country will be able to enjoy all the rights as if they were married in Poland. This is what this ruling leads to. We absolutely cannot consent to this here,” he said. 

Morawiecki further criticized Brussels for prioritizing judicial activism over critical issues like competitiveness, the problems related to the Green Deal, and the migration pact, arguing that EU institutions are overstepping their mandate.

The dispute comes amid wider tensions. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has also pressured Poland to recognize same-sex partnerships, claiming that the lack of legal recognition for same-sex partnerships in Poland violates their human rights. Cases brought before Strasbourg involved Polish citizens civilly married in the United Kingdom and Denmark, whose requests to have their unions recognized in Poland were denied. According to the ECHR, failure to provide a legal framework leaves same-sex couples in a “legal vacuum.”

Polish MPs and former ministers, including Marcin Romanowski (PiS) and Zbigniew Ziobro (PiS), condemned the ruling. Ziobro said, “In violation of international agreements, in violation of the Polish constitution and the will of the nation, they want to introduce same-sex marriages into Poland.” 

Pictured: Mateusz Morawiecki