Same-Sex Spouses: More Free Movement, but What About Marriage? Coman: Case C-673/16, Coman et al. v. Inspectoratul General Pentru Imigrări, Judgement of the Court of Justice (Grand Chamber) of 5 June 2018, EU:C:2018:385

Common Market Law Review 57(1), pp. 227–242, 2020

University of Groningen Faculty of Law Research Paper No. 21/2020

12 Pages Posted: 6 May 2020 Last revised: 30 Apr 2021

See all articles by Dimitry Kochenov

Dimitry Kochenov

CEU Democracy Institute, Budapest; CEU Department of Legal Studies, Vienna

Uladzislau Belavusau

T.M.C. Asser Institute - University of Amsterdam; University of California, Berkeley - Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law

Date Written: April 10, 2020

Abstract

This paper provides a critical annotation of the case of Coman, where the Court of Justice clarified that the meaning of the term ‘spouse’ in Directive 2004/38 was gender-neutral, opening up the door for same-sex marriage recognition for immigration purposes all around the EU, thus destroying the hetero-normative misinterpretations of the clear language of the Directive practiced in a handful of Member States. The state of EU law after Coman is still far from perfect, however: we underline a line of important questions which remain open and which the Court will need to turn to in the near future to ensure that marriage equality in moves beyond mere proclamations in the whole territory of the Union. A more detailed analysis of the Case is provided by the authors in the pages of the Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law (2020) and has also appeared, in draft, as an EUI Working Paper.

Keywords: Same-Sex Marriage, Coman, EU Citizenship, Free Movement, Equality, Non-Discrimination

Suggested Citation

Kochenov, Dimitry and Kochenov, Dimitry and Belavusau, Uladzislau, Same-Sex Spouses: More Free Movement, but What About Marriage? Coman: Case C-673/16, Coman et al. v. Inspectoratul General Pentru Imigrări, Judgement of the Court of Justice (Grand Chamber) of 5 June 2018, EU:C:2018:385 (April 10, 2020). Common Market Law Review 57(1), pp. 227–242, 2020, University of Groningen Faculty of Law Research Paper No. 21/2020, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3572723 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3572723

Dimitry Kochenov (Contact Author)

CEU Democracy Institute, Budapest ( email )

Nador utca 9
Budapest, H-1051
Hungary

CEU Department of Legal Studies, Vienna ( email )

Quellenstraße 51
Vienna, 1100
Austria

Uladzislau Belavusau

T.M.C. Asser Institute - University of Amsterdam ( email )

R.J. Schimmelpennincklaan 20-22
The Hague, 2517 JN
Netherlands

HOME PAGE: http://www.uva.nl/en/profile/b/e/u.belavusau/u.belavusau.html

University of California, Berkeley - Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law

Boalt Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-7200
United States

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