EU rules: Bulgaria can’t refuse citizenship to child with two mothers

Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, December 15, 2021

Photo: euractiv.com Photo: euractiv.com     

According to a new ruling from the European Union’s Court of Justice, gay parents and their children that are recognized in one member state must be recognized in all member states.

The Court’s ruling comes in response to a Bulgarian court that refused to issue a passport to a girl with two mothers, reports euronews.

Bulgarian Kalina Ivanova and British Gibraltar-born Janes Jones were married in Gibraltar and are both registered as the mothers of Sara, who was born in Spain in 2019. However, as neither parent is Spanish, Sara doesn’t qualify for Spanish citizenship, and having been born in Gibraltar, Jones can’t transfer British citizenship. Thus, Ivanova filed for Bulgarian citizenship for her daughter, though her request was rejected.

Bulgarian sources provide more information. Dariknews.bg reports that the Bulgarian court didn’t reject the appeal solely on the basis that two women don’t constitute a marriage, but also that Ivanova refused the Bulgarian court’s requirement to divulge which of the women is the biological mother. The Court was willing to issue a birth certificate, on the basis of which citizenship could be granted, with only the biological mother listed, but not with two mothers. Thus, given Ivanova’s refusal, the court declined to issue a birth certificate.

Thus, the child is at risk of statelessness, with limited rights to movement and limited access to education, healthcare, and social security. The Court therefore ruled that Sara should be issued a Bulgarian passport.

The EU Court’s decision reads:

In the case of a minor child of the European Union whose birth certificate, drawn up by the competent authorities of the host Member State, identifies as his parents two persons of the same sex, the Member State of which that child is a national shall be obliged, on the one hand, to issue him with an identity card or a passport without requiring the drawing up of a birth certificate by his national authorities and, on the other hand, to recognize, like any other Member State, a document issued by the host State enabling that child, together with each of those two persons, to exercise his right to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States.

The case cannot be appealed, reports euronews.

In 2019, the EU also forced Bulgaria to recognize the so-called gay marriage of foreign citizens.

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12/15/2021

Comments
Panagiotis12/15/2021 7:52 pm
Maybe it is time for Bulgaria to leave the EU.... Would it not be nice if there was an OU, IE an Orthodox Union?... just my opinion...
Gary12/15/2021 3:37 pm
Sounds like Bulgaria is going down the same toilet as America. It's really sad.
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