The United Left commits to legislation on civil partnerships
PR dla Zagranicy
Alicja Baczyńska
28.09.2015 15:59
A coalition formed by left-wing groupings in the run up to the 25 October parliamentary elections in Poland, is the only contender in the ballot invested in the cause of civil partnerships, the grouping’s electoral committee told a press conference in Warsaw on Monday.
Photo: Flickr.com/Ryan Polei
MP Katarzyna Piekarska, member of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), one of the dominant parties in the coalition, said that her grouping had been striving for civil partnerships for years.
“One thing is certain: [ruling] Civic Platform will not resolve the matter, since the party had plenty of time to do so over the past eight years [it’s been in power],” Piekarska commented.
She asserted the coalition’s proposal would embrace both opposite- and same-sex relationships and would be based on French regulations. New laws would make couples eligible for joint taxation, inheritance rights and social security benefits.
“We want to introduce solutions for cohabiting couples who share a household budget, who make a family, but are deprived of laws enjoyed by heterosexual couples who have the right to marry,” Piekarska said.
A lack of regulations targeting cohabiters exposes them to continuous discrimination and social exclusion, regardless of their sexual orientation, expert on criminal law Professor Monika Płatek told journalists.
The United Left, comprising the SLD, Your Movement, the Polish Socialist Party, Labour United and the Greens, went on to appeal for voter support in the upcoming ballot and promised to follow through with its pledge on civil partnerships, should the coalition win a majority of votes on the issue in Parliament.
In May, the Lower House of Parliament voted down an SLD bill on regulating civil partnerships, thus thwarting another in a series of attempts to introduce civil unions in Poland since 2004. (aba/rk)
Source: IAR/PAP