Our Union is based on equality: LGBTIQ+ people must have equal opportunities and rights in order to be able to participate fully in public life. The Italian government’s decision to stop registering children from rainbow families¹ goes against the spirit of European values and the letter of EU law. This discriminatory move leaves thousands of families in administrative limbo as it all but removes parental rights for a range of everyday situations, such as authorising medical treatment or participation in class outings.

The European Movement International joins the European Parliament and the European Commission, as well as Italian citizens and civil society, in support for the fight for the recognition of equal rights for all since birth. Under the EU Treaties and EU charter of fundamental rights, all children have the same right without discrimination, irrespective of how they were conceived or born.

The Italian government’s action is a worrying rollback of civil liberties and a step backwards in the fight for equal rights. It also comes at a time where the Italian government is taking similar prejudiced decisions such as the one to reject the possibility of a European Certificate of Filiation, which would allow the children of same-sex couples to have their rights recognised throughout Europe. Italy must respect its obligations under international law as well as the EU treaties. We will support the fight for a law conferring rights equally on same-sex parents in the country. We stand in solidarity with Italian families and LGBTQI+ rights defenders as well as with rainbow families everywhere.

¹ Two weeks ago, the Italian interior ministry ordered the city of Milan to limit recognition of parental rights to the biological parent only in the case of same–sex parents.