Some Remarks on the CJEU’s ‘Pancharevo’ Decision With Special Regard to the Nexus Between the Primacy of EU Law and the National Identity of Member States’

Abstract

This paper analyses same-sex marriage and adoption and the nexus between the primacy of EU law and national identity of the Member States in the light of the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the Pancharevo-case delivered in December 2021. The CJEU ruled that the Bulgarian authorities were obliged to issue a child’s birth certificate, which is a condition for the issuance of an identity document or passport under Bulgarian national law. A Member State may not rely on national law and identity in this respect. The CJEU relied on the principle of ‘ functional recognition’, which same-sex marriageit had first adopted in its judgment in the Coman-case.