The Left said on Oct. 15 the parties reached a “good agreement.” In a video, Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said the partners “sat down at the table […] and achieved a good agreement.”
PSL’s Urszula Pasławska called the draft “well thought-out and practical,” while Sejm Deputy Speaker Włodzimierz Czarzasty said: “We choose what unites us.”
Poland has tried and failed repeatedly since 2004. A Senate bill led by SLD’s Maria Szyszkowska won upper-house approval in December 2004 but lapsed before the 2005 elections.
An SLD proposal in 2011 for a notarial partnership agreement reached committees but expired with the term.
Three rival bills from Palikot’s Movement, SLD and Civic Platform were rejected at first reading on Jan. 25, 2013.
A Nowoczesna draft in 2018, adding adoption of a partner’s child, stalled after negative expert opinions.
In the current (10th) Sejm, Equality Minister Katarzyna Kotula made partnerships a priority. A government draft appeared in autumn 2024 and went to public consultation, drawing over 6,000 comments. It would allow same- or different-sex partners to take a shared surname, file joint taxes, obtain medical information and gain inheritance and burial rights.
On April 30, 2025, the Standing Committee reviewed the bill; the Finance Ministry questioned the fiscal estimates.
The country’s ruling centrist Civic Coalition and Poland 2050 backed Kotula’s plan, while PSL pushed an alternative “closest person” status and objected to civil-registry registration.
In June 2025, the Left filed Sejm bills mirroring the government version.
After a July reshuffle, Kotula became a state secretary and floated a compromise: a partnership agreement concluded before a notary.
In August, Czarzasty and Kosiniak-Kamysz reached a preliminary understanding, with compromise language prepared by Kotula and Pasławska. Kotula says full details and the bill’s name will be presented on Friday.
(jh)
Source: PAP