Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced Tuesday that his government will issue a regulation allowing foreign same-sex union certificates to be transcribed into Poland’s civil registry — a move driven by court orders rather than legislation, and one that stops short of granting adoption rights.
Tusk said the regulation was required by rulings from both the Court of Justice of the European Union and Poland’s Supreme Administrative Court. “We have committed ourselves, and I will personally make sure of it, to respect the rulings of both European tribunals and Polish courts first of all,” he said, framing the move as a matter of rule of law and human dignity.
Same-sex marriage remains illegal in Poland. The transcription measure applies only to marriages legally concluded in other EU countries. The Supreme Administrative Court has ordered the transcription of certificates for seven same-sex couples since March, following an EU court ruling in November 2025 that member states must recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere in the EU.
Tusk moved to pre-empt speculation about broader implications, stating clearly: “Both the decision to issue the regulation and future legislative work are in no way a path toward the possibility of adoption.” He directed Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski and Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński to agree on the regulation’s wording as soon as possible.
Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski said the city’s civil registry office would in the coming days begin processing applications from Polish same-sex couples who married in EU countries, stating his office was acting within current law and had no legal discretion to refuse.
Poland’s constitution defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman. What is happening now — as in neighboring countries — is court-driven imposition of a policy the Polish people never voted to adopt, moving step by step regardless of what the law says.
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