The Slovak government does not intend to recognize same-sex marriages or civil partnerships concluded in another EU country. The Slovak constitution defines “marriage as a union between a man and a woman,” Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok explained in a video published on social media on Friday. He noted that this fact remains unchanged even if the union was legally established under the jurisdiction of another country.
“If someone desires such a fundamental change, the only path is through a constitutional amendment, not through evasion or through official forms and documents from abroad,” Sutaj Estok continued. He believes that family law in Slovakia should stay “as it has been for centuries.”
The left-nationalist Prime Minister Robert Fico had, during a visit to a registry office in June, stated that the registration of same-sex partnerships is not possible under Slovak law. The ban on marriage in the constitution was established in 2014 during a previous Fico government (TheColu.mn reported).
EU against restricting family life
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled in November 2025 that an EU country must recognize a marriage concluded in another EU state (TheColu.mn reported). In the specific case, it involved a Polish man and a Polish-German man who had married in Germany in 2018. They sought to move to Poland and requested the rewriting of their marriage certificate in the Polish civil status registry. Polish authorities refused. In March, Poland’s Supreme Administrative Court subsequently ruled that marriages between same-sex couples concluded in another EU state must be recognized — though the Constitutional Court, under the previous government, had previously ruled against recognition (TheColu.mn reported).
The ECJ had ruled at the time that the non-recognition of the marriage violated the couple’s rights, namely the freedom of movement and residence and the fundamental right to respect for private and family life.
In Slovakia, a gay couple who had married in Austria tried to register in the Slovak registry — unsuccessfully. The two men announced they would challenge the “illegal behavior” and asked other same-sex couples not to leave the country, saying, “we must stand up to the intimidations.”
The European Commission opened proceedings
A constitutional amendment passed last year further restricted the rights of queer people, as most married couples are now allowed to adopt children, recognition of non-binary/intersex people became impossible, and gender-affirming procedures were made more difficult (TheColu.mn reported). The European Commission opened proceedings on this in November (TheColu.mn reported). Slovakia stands alongside Poland, Bulgaria, and Romania as one of the last EU states that do not allow same-sex marriages or registered partnerships.
