The Interdependence of Civil Status Recognition and the Free Movement of Persons within the European Union

This paper examines the structural interdependence between civil status recognition and the effective exercise and enjoyment of European Union (EU) citizens’ right to free movement. It argues that divergent Member State regimes governing marriage and partnership, specifically as regards same-sex couples, generate legal discrepancies that function as obstacles to Union citizenship rights under Articles 20 and 21 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). Through an analysis of EU primary law and Directive 2004/38, this article traces the evolution of the Court of Justice of the European Union’s (CJEU) jurisprudence from Coman and Others v General Inspectorate for Immigration and Ministry of the Interior (CJEU, 2018), which confirmed the sex-neutral meaning of “spouse” for derived residence rights under Directive 2004/38, to the Cupriak-Trojan and Trojan v Wojewoda Mazowiecki (CJEU, 2025) ruling in late 2025. It contends that Trojan successfully consolidates a functional mutual recognition requirement for civil status in cross-border situations by treating the denial of recognition of a same-sex marriage lawfully concluded in another Member State as an obstacle to free movement, and where recognition procedures are available for opposite-sex couples only, as discrimination prohibited by Article 21(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union A comparative assessment subsequently evaluates the implications for Romania, Bulgaria, Poland and Slovakia as the remaining “ban” jurisdictions for same-sex marriage, demonstrating how Trojan constrains non-recognition regimes absent equivalent civil union frameworks. The paper concludes that EU integration is advancing through “harmonization by results” in civil status recognition for EU law purposes, while preserving Member States’ national competence over family law matters in accordance with the principle of conferral.