Poland’s president, Karol Nawrocki, vetoed two bills on Friday that would have introduced “cohabitation contracts” for couples living together, dealing a blow to same-sex couples in one of the few European Union countries with limited rights for LGBT people.

Background

Prime Minister Donald Tusk took office in 2023 pledging to deliver reforms on abortion and LGBT rights, but divisions within his broad pro-European coalition as well as nationalist President Karol Nawrocki’s veto powers mean he has struggled to do so.

The bills on the “status of the closest person in a relationship and the cohabitation agreement” would have allowed two adults to enter into an agreement regulating issues such as joint property rights, access to medical information and matters concerning burial.

Nawrocki, an ally of the nationalist opposition party Law and Justice (PiS), said the bills still went too far, as they would create a new, formalized institution of family law, equipped with a broad catalogue of rights similar to those of marriage.

“As the guardian of the Constitution, I cannot accept a solution that would lead to the loss of the special status of marriage, defined in Article 18 of the Constitution as a union of a man and a woman under the protection and care of the Republic of Poland,” Nawrocki said in a recorded statement.

Tusk responded angrily to Nawrocki’s decision, saying on X: “The presidential veto is an expression of contempt for people and their right to happiness and a normal life.”

The government would need a three-fifths majority — with at least half of lawmakers taking part in the vote — to overturn the veto, but with nationalist opposition parties opposed to the bills, this would be practically impossible to achieve.

Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.