Fed Up Canadian
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), in a judgment in a case regarding Romania’s lack of regulation of same-sex civil partnerships, has found that the country is violating the right to family life and discriminating against homosexual couples. Critics, however, say that the ruling is a clearly undemocratic overreach.
According to the Court, the fact that the Romanian Civil Code “provides for only one form of family union” is a violation of Article 8 ECHR (the right to private and family life) and also Article 14 (discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation).
Furthermore, the Court also ruled that neither the lack of public support for introducing same-sex partnerships among the general population, nor the legislative democratic process—by which the Romanian Parliament has consistently rejected such initiatives—could be used to justify the “applicants’ interest in having their respective relationships adequately reorganized and protected by law.”
But according to watchdogs and politicians, this ruling represents a serious institutional overreach from the Court, as the ECHR is not only trying to sway a sovereign country’s democratic decision-making but also sets a dangerous precedent for other countries in a similar situation.
The decision even raises concerns about the Court’s legitimacy, because it goes beyond the jurisdiction established by the relevant treaties, said Cristian Terheș, a Romanian MEP belonging to the European Conservative and Reformist (ECR) group, while talking to The European Conservative.
