Supreme Administrative Court opens the register to marriages from other EU countries
A court opens Poland's register to same-sex marriages from other EU countries. A victory against headwinds.
On 20 March 2026, Poland's Supreme Administrative Court in Warsaw delivered a ruling that many couples had been waiting for for years. Same-sex marriages concluded in another EU country must be transcribed into the Polish civil status register. Refusing to do so violates EU law.
Behind the case are Jakub Cupriak-Trojan and Mateusz Trojan. The two Poles had married in Berlin and, after returning home, wanted only one thing: an entry in their home country's register. The registry office refused, again and again. Since 2019 the dispute had worked its way through the courts, all the way to Luxembourg. There, in November 2025, the European Court of Justice ruled that Poland must recognise such marriages, because otherwise freedom of movement within the Union would be meaningless.
Warsaw followed suit. The court quashed all earlier decisions and ordered the registry office to transcribe the Berlin marriage certificate. Such an entry endangered neither Poland's legal order nor its national identity, the judges stated. Remarkable in a country whose constitution describes marriage as a union of a man and a woman and which still has no registered partnership.
In May, Donald Tusk's government announced that it would implement the ruling and apologised to same-sex couples for years of rejection. The headwinds remained fierce. In July, President Karol Nawrocki vetoed laws on partnership agreements, and shortly afterwards the controversial Constitutional Tribunal declared the transcription unconstitutional. The government, however, considers the tribunal unlawfully constituted and is sticking to its line.
Since the end of August, registry offices across the country have been registering marriages concluded abroad. For many couples a turning point, even though marrying in Poland itself is still not possible.