Five thousand letters arrived at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland on Thursday. These are citizens' comments regarding the Civil Partnership Act. Public consultations on this matter are just ending. Activists care, among other things, about the possibility for partners to adopt children. Meanwhile, PSL politicians say they are working on their bill. – PSL assumed that it knew what we needed better than us – commented Hubert Sobecki from the Miłość Nie Wyleża Association.
On Thursday, five boxes were delivered to the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland – boxes with letters from citizens who wrote what they felt was missing in the Civil Partnership Act. – Our lives are in these boxes, in these letters – emphasized Hubert Sobecki from the Love Does Not Exclude Association.
– If it were 20 years ago, I would applaud, but today I think it is a really sad substitute – said writer Renata Lis, talking about the provisions of the draft act on civil partnerships.
Public consultations on this bill are now coming to an end. – A project that is not perfect, that does not fully satisfy the social side, but which can be passed – admitted Katarzyna Kotula, Minister for Equality, MP from the Left.
What does the government project assume?
The project regulates property, tax and medical issues. – My wife and I are strangers to Polish law and the older we get, and the older we get, the more we feel it, because we start to get sick – said Renata Lis.
For couples who raise children together, the project offers the so-called small custody, which regulates small, everyday matters. – I will be able to sign my children up for a trip, I will be able to go to meetings without being constantly forced to come out in each new facility – says Ms. Karolina.
What was included in the letters and what is not in the project was the ceremony at the office and the adoption of children. Citizens will not receive these rights because the Polish People's Party did not want to agree to it. – At this point, I am waiting for PSL to clarify (…) whether there is anything else that PSL would like to work on – says Katarzyna Kotula.
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PSL is to present its proposals
PSL wants to work, but on its own project. – The project is prepared and will probably be presented soon – said Urszula Pasławska, an MP from the Polish People's Party. – The Yeti Act, with all due respect, but we are talking about an act that no one has seen, said the Minister for Equality.
The People's Party sees it this way: instead of a union in an office, a contract with a notary. – The main difference is freedom and discretion in shaping the contract that will be concluded between the closest people – said Urszula Pasławska.
However, it will be difficult to find people willing to conclude such an agreement. – PSL has never talked to us. PSL assumed that it knew what we needed better than us. (…) We do not want this law, it is unnecessary, it is unnecessary, the law exists and you are destroying it – commented Hubert Sobecki from the Love Does Not Exclude Association.
As part of public consultations on the draft law on civil partnerships, citizens sent thousands of letters. – The smallest town from which a letter came to us is a town with 35 people – said Hubert Sobecki. The ministries, in turn, sent hundreds of pages of comments. There are also opinions of experts and lawyers. – Which say that this is the right direction, that this act is needed, and that this act should be passed – said Katarzyna Kotula.
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