Written by Stefanidis Demosthenis*
On November 25, 2025 the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) made a landmark decision, which affects all member states of the "European family", in case C‑713/23, fueling, escalating and entrenching, robustly, prosperously and forcefully, the irreversible denaturation of de facto cohabitation and care relationships, which create family ties, in the juridical legal system of the European member states. Union.
This is in full agreement with the cornerstone marking of the European Court of Human Rights, which, in this context, regarding the concept of private and family life, "has, first of all, repeatedly stated that Article 8 of the E.S.D.A. does not distinguish between "legal" and "natural" family" (Decisions 2003-2004/2018 of the Council of State of Greece) making it clear that, since any discrimination due to sexual orientation is prohibited, then any member state regulation that creates discrimination against individuals is also prohibited.
Στη συγκεκριμένη περίπτωση, το Ανώτατο Διοικητικό Δικαστήριο της Πολωνίας υπέβαλε προδικαστικό ερώτημα στο ΔΕΕ, διατηρώντας αμφιβολίες ως προς την ερμηνεία του άρθρου 20, παράγραφος 2, στοιχείο αʹ, και του άρθρου 21, παράγραφος 1, ΣΛΕΕ, ερμηνευομένων υπό το πρίσμα του άρθρου 7 και του άρθρου 21, παράγραφος 1, του Χάρτη, καθώς το δίκαιο του κράτους-μέλους της Πολωνίας, που δεν επέτρεπε το γάμο μεταξύ προσώπων of the same sex, excluded the recognition of the marriage that two nationals of the said Member State, of the same sex, had legally entered into in the Member State of Germany, thus exercising their right to free movement and residence in another Member State in which they have developed or consolidated family life, as well as the transfer for this purpose of the marriage certificate in the registry office of that Member State, when the transfer is the only way that this Member State provides for the recognition of the marriage.
The capital importance and ultimately full legal binding of this decision in every member state of the European Union, including the Republic of Cyprus, is inescapably given, as a one-way street, as the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (FRC) constitutes the European Community acquis in accordance with the Treaty of Lisbon, which gave it a binding character (Decision of the Full Plenary of the Supreme Court of in the case of Maria Koutselini – Ioannidou (2014) 3 A.D. of Cyprus) and has the same legal authority as the Treaties (art. 6 par. 1 TEU) referring to the primary law of the EU (K. Bakopoulos, The preliminary reference to the CJEU, 2020, 1. Interpretation of EU law, p. 27, no. 2, I. Gerasimos, The respect of the "basic content" of the fundamental rights in ΧΘΤΕΕΕ, ΕΕΕΒΒΕ 2/2024.176), with the institution of marriage by its very nature subject to the effects of social differences during the course of time (V. Sotiropoulos, LGBTI+ rights & freedoms, 2024, p. 825).
In this regard, the Community acquis, based on Article 1A of the Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus, has increased power over the Constitution itself (Republic of Cyprus v. Kalomiras Sokratous et al., (2015) 3 A.A.D 361, 369: "It is clear from the usual grammatical interpretation of the words used in a legislative text (and the Constitution is the supreme legislation in the internal legal structure of the Republic, at least respecting the European dimension)", with the jurisprudence of the CJEU having "increased formal force" (COURT OF APPEALS OF CYPRUS - CIVIL JURISDICTION, Aerocandia Aviation Services Cy Ltd v. Panagiotis Spanos, Civil Appeal no. E210/2021, dated 9.4.2025) to "constitutes part of the legal order in Cyprus", as well as that: "The application of EU law is an obligation of the court of each member country" (COURT OF APPEALS OF CYPRUS - CIVIL JURISDICTION, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE REPUBLIC and IN REFERENCE TO THE REQUEST FOR THE EXTRADITION OF A.P., BY P., Civil Appeal no. 32/2024, d. 2.4.2024, with the relevant recognition that "Ta human rights and their enshrinement in the Republic, based on the Constitution, the E.S.D.A., the case law of the E.D.A.D. and the jurisprudence of the D.E.E., constitute part of the legal order in Cyprus and are applied and defended by our Courts as part of our law" (REFERRING TO THE APPLICATION OF THE AG FOR THE ISSUANCE OF A WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS, Concurrent Civil Applications No. 178/2022, etc., d. 12.1.2023).
Therefore, it is inevitably expected that the Republic of Cyprus will harmonize and incorporate, symmetrically, without shocks, deviations, tremors and brakes, the involved dialectical bindingness of the above decision of the CJEU, under the necessary and appropriate structural, structural and functional transplasticity and hypostasis in its internal legal world, in order to adopt and implement the foundation and seamless realization of non-discrimination between the recognition of marriage, whether of same-sex or of heterosexual couples contracted in another EU member state.
*Lawyer
