Poland and the Baltic States are known for their opposition towards any legal recognition of same-sex relationships. This book argues that explanations are found in these States’ social and cultural situations after the Second World War. First, there was the oppression by the Soviet Union, then the sudden liberation following the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1990 and nation-building in the new world. Religion continues to play an important role in people’s everyday lives, as well as in relation to the expression of “national identity”. Likewise, the notion of the “complementarity of biological sexes” continues to be strong and competes with the notion of “gender equality”. This is a phenomenon that can be observed in many other parts of the world. In cross-border cases, the access to the diffuse but powerful concept of public policy has enabled protection of each State’s alleged fundamental values both in law, and in normative societal convictions.

This book proposes a holistic approach to justice in private international law in respect of cross-border recognition of formalised civil status, legally acquired in another jurisdiction. It equals to a “whole status” recognition approach, meaning the cross-border recognition of the substantive validity of the civil status and its legal effects. In this respect, the European Court of Justice continues to follow a more cautious and narrower approach, the so-called “sole purpose approach”, limited to the elimination on an obstacle to free movement within the Union. The ECJ confirmed this position in its recent decision in the case of V.M.A., C-490/20, concerning the prospects of and limits for recognition of a same-sex couple as parents. The consequences of the proposed “whole status” recognition approach, as contrasted with the narrower approaches, are analysed from the perspectives of supranational, national and personal identity.

Society and attitudes change, and in 2016 Estonia introduced the institution of registered partnership for same-sex couples in its legislation. Similar motions are currently under consideration in both Latvian and Lithuanian parliaments.