European Parental Certificate presented in Strasbourg

MEP Maria Manuel Leitan Márquez presents this Wednesday a European parental certificate that aims to protect children regardless of their family type and Member State, but admits that there will be difficulties in getting it approved in the Council.

Speaking to Lusa on the sidelines of the plenary meeting taking place in Strasbourg, the socialist said that the intention is to “affirm recognized parenthood in the Member State”, that is, “since the Member State, in accordance with its family law, recognizes (parenthood ), it is recognized in all others.

In addition to protecting children, the proposal also “makes life easier for other types of families” because “while people may agree or disagree, we all recognize that there are many different types: there are single-parent families, two-parent families, two-parent families.”

“What is important is that families feel comfortable raising their children with tenderness, love, stability, legal security and ease,” he said.

This proposal has implications ranging from inheritance rights to alimony or “even simpler: who allows a child to go on a school trip.”

The socialist also noted the peculiarity of “rainbow families,” as they are called in Portugal, “where this does not happen.”

Maria Manuel Leitan Marques explained that the rights of children who have two mothers or two fathers can no longer be recognized “when they travel or change their place of residence to another EU Member State.”

“There is even a known case where the child, the daughter of the (biological) mother, was in a very serious state of health and was at risk of being handed over to her grandparents, with whom she did not even have a close family relationship, rather than to her, the other mother, whom I always recognized as such,” he gave an example.

The proposal “does not oblige member states to recognise, it obliges the child to retain his fathers and mothers or father and mother in any member state”, but the MEP admitted that approval of the new structure could be difficult next year. step, that is, to the European Council.

“Parliament merely gives an opinion on the proposed regulation of the European Commission, which must be approved unanimously in the Council. This is a difficult moment because there will be opposition from those member states where these rights are not yet recognized,” he said. .

The MEP is confident there will be a “comfortable majority, a strong majority” among MEPs, although she expects “some resistance from right-wing political groups”. Maria Manuel Leitan Márquez also stresses the importance of the European Parliament taking a strong position, as this will “help the Council think more openly.”

Her past government experience in the field of administrative modernization also prompted the socialist to include in the report that she wrote the certificate in simplex mode.

“I really wanted this certificate to be accessible in a simple way – I ended up using my Simplex experience here too – so it could be done ‘online’, so the information was only provided once, with easy access in parts. families, wherever they live in the EU,” he added.