Polish President Karol Nawrocki vetoed legislation on Friday that would have granted same-sex couples legal recognition through a civil partnership framework, dealing a significant blow to LGBTQ+ rights advocates in one of the European Union's most socially conservative countries.
The law, passed by parliament in late May, would have allowed two adults to register a partnership before a notary and local authorities, gaining a range of rights comparable to those attached to civil unions in other European countries — including joint tax filing, shared use of a home, access to a partner's medical information, exemption from inheritance and gift taxes, and the right to act as a legal representative. Crucially, the legislation applied to same-sex couples as well as unmarried heterosexual partners. Nawrocki, who is aligned with the right-wing conservative opposition party PiS (Law and Justice), announced his decision via a video message, insisting he was not opposed to regulating the practical affairs of unmarried couples but that the law went too far. "This bill creates a quasi-marriage," he said, adding that Poland's constitution explicitly defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
The veto drew immediate condemnation from the centre-left government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who said he was "furious" and called the decision "an expression of contempt for people and their right to happiness and a normal life." Katarzyna Kotula, the government's secretary of state for equality, who had championed the legislation, acknowledged the setback but vowed to press on. "The polls are clear — Poles support this law. This is a change you will not be able to stop," she said, addressing Nawrocki directly. She noted that during his presidential campaign, Nawrocki had suggested he might sign the bill if it remained limited to practical matters such as medical access, rather than creating a new family-law institution.
The veto is the latest in a series of presidential blocks on government initiatives since Nawrocki won the presidential election last year. He has also previously vetoed measures related to wind energy, financial support for Ukrainian refugees, and an EU defence loan for Poland. This pattern of confrontation between the president and the Tusk government reflects the broader political tensions in Poland following years of PiS rule, during which homosexuality was branded a dangerous ideology and LGBTQ+ individuals faced widespread stigmatisation.
The stakes are considerable: an estimated two million Poles live in informal partnerships. While Poland was compelled by European court rulings in May to recognise same-sex marriages performed abroad, same-sex marriage remains prohibited under domestic law. For advocates, the vetoed law represented a meaningful, if incremental, step forward — and its failure underscores how difficult the path to legal equality remains in Poland, even under a government that promised reform.