Welcome to ERA – Academy of European Law

Since 1989, when Denmark became the first country to introduce registered partnerships, the legal recognition of same-sex relationships has been on the political agenda in many countries. By now, half of the Member States of the EU have introduced legislation on the formalisation of same-sex relationships; most of them have provided for registered partnerships, some allow homosexual couples to enter into marriage.

The conference will discuss the difficulties same-sex couples might face if they live abroad or want to get divorced in another country as both the substantive law of the Member States and their private international law approaches differ to a large extent. The legal aspects of parenthood and surrogate motherhood will also be on the agenda.

On the second conference day, different issues of European and international law will be addressed: rights granted under the European Convention of Human Rights; the question of non-discrimination, including employment conditions and pension rights; and family reunification.

The conference will be the foundation stone for the following publication: Boele Woelki/Fuchs, Legal Recognition of Same-Sex Relationships in Europe, Antwerp, 2nd ed. 2011.