WARSAW — Poland’s president used his veto power Friday to block two pieces of legislation that would have created formal “cohabitation contracts” for unmarried couples living together, delivering a major blow to LGBT rights advocates in a country that already offers some of the most limited protections for same-sex couples in the European Union.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk came to power in 2023 with promises to advance reforms on abortion access and LGBT rights. However, deep divisions within his broad, pro-European governing coalition — combined with the veto authority held by nationalist President Karol Nawrocki — have made progress on those fronts extremely difficult.
The two vetoed bills, formally titled the “status of the closest person in a relationship and the cohabitation agreement,” would have permitted any two adults to enter into a legally recognized agreement covering shared property rights, access to a partner’s medical records, and decisions related to burial arrangements.
The legislation had managed to win backing from across the governing coalition, including the conservative PSL party, which had previously refused to support earlier versions of similar proposals out of concern they would weaken the institution of marriage. Nawrocki, however — a political ally of the nationalist opposition party Law and Justice, known as PiS — argued the bills still went too far.
“These proposals create a new, formalised institution of family law, equipped with a broad catalogue of rights similar to those of marriage,” Nawrocki said in a recorded statement.
Citing his role as a defender of Poland’s constitution, he added: “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.”
Overriding the veto would require a three-fifths supermajority in parliament, with at least half of all lawmakers participating in the vote. With nationalist opposition parties firmly against the bills, that threshold is considered virtually unachievable.
Katarzyna Kotula, the government official responsible for equality policy, sharply criticized the decision, saying Nawrocki had “turned his back on two million people living today in informal relationships.”
Kotula noted that Poland is now required to recognize same-sex marriages registered in other countries following a ruling by the European Union’s top court. She said her focus would shift toward making sure those couples can access every benefit available to them under that recognition.
Poland’s Campaign Against Homophobia, known as KPH, also condemned the veto, pointing out that the legislation Nawrocki rejected was already a stripped-down version of earlier civil partnership proposals. “Today’s veto of the bill, however, shows that even the absolute minimum of rights the bill was intended to provide is too much for the president,” the organization said.
