Same-sex couple in Slovakia challenges refusal to recognize marriage — The Guardian

In Slovakia, Ivan Novotný and Method Špaček have filed a lawsuit against the authorities over their refusal to register their marriage, concluded in Austria in 2020. The couple is not seeking the introduction of same-sex marriage in the country, but recognition of a marriage legally concluded in another EU member state, The Guardian reports.

Slovak Interior Ministry’s position

Slovakia has no same-sex marriages or any form of civil partnership. In a letter signed by Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok, the authorities explained the refusal by saying that the country’s Constitution defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. In the ministry’s view, this means there are no legal grounds for formally recognizing the Austrian marriage certificate.

The Interior Ministry stated that it is bound by the current constitutional and legislative provisions regardless of the validity of the marriage abroad. At the same time, the ministry acknowledged the primacy of EU law, but noted that recognition of a marriage for the purposes of freedom of movement does not necessarily entail registering it as a marriage in Slovakia.

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Claimants’ arguments

Novotný and Špaček, who are lawyers and former diplomats, refer to a November 2025 ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union. It was issued in the case of a Polish same-sex couple who married in Berlin and challenged the Polish authorities’ refusal to recognize their marriage.

The CJEU ruled that member states must recognize such marriages if the couple exercised their right to move and reside in another EU country and established or strengthened their family life there. At the same time, the ruling does not require EU countries to allow same-sex marriages to be concluded on their own territory.

Another lawsuit against the Slovak authorities was filed by STVR public broadcaster radio host Marian Žary Kukelka. He married his partner Ondrej in Hainburg an der Donau, Austria, in 2023. On air, he uses his full married surname, but in official documents he is listed as Marian Kukelka.