Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-09-07-Speech-2-593"
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"en.20100907.34.2-593"2
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"Madam President, Commissioner, just a couple of days ago, I was watching a documentary on BBC World about some countries in the Caucasus where it is customary for men to ride out and steal a bride. When their eye catches a nice girl, they abduct her, take her home, rape her and then she is the man’s wife. Of course, the families of the girls vigorously protest against this, because they feel it is not up to the men to decide to take the girl – it is up to her father to decide to give her away.
It was a heartbreaking documentary. It was shocking, and why? Because we feel that the choice of a partner, the choice of a husband or a wife is the most personal and intimate choice you can make in life. It is not for the man, not for your father, not for your brother – and certainly not for the state – to determine who will or will not be your partner.
We have seen in history, and we still see today, countries where the state bans marriage between black and white people. In my country, not very long ago – this was something my grandparents were confronted with – Catholics were not allowed to marry Protestants even if they loved each other. There are still conservative Muslims who feel their daughters should not marry non-Muslims. There are many examples like that and we feel that is very shocking. But we still have countries in the European Union that ban marriage between consenting adults of the same sex.
I know that for some people, it is very shocking that people of the same sex can love each other, but that is not really relevant. What is relevant here is that every single EU citizen should have the same rights. It is not for the European Union or for the Member State governments to judge a personal relationship.
The European Union has no competence in family law, but as Michael Cashman has just pointed out, there are five countries already which have opened their marriage laws to same-sex couples. There are a number of other countries which have some form of recognised partnership. The very least we should be doing in the European Union is apply the principle of mutual recognition. We do it for jam and wine and beer: why do we not do it for marriage and for relationships?
I would like to ask the Commission to take the initiative for mutual recognition between those Member States which already have marriage or some form of registered partnership and give us a roadmap on how we will get to a situation where those relationships will be recognised everywhere."@en1
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