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(LifeSiteNews) — An initiative by the E.U. Commission could potentially force all member states of the European Union to accept surrogacy and same-sex “marriage” through a “European parenthood certificate.” 

The stated goal of the E.U. initiative is to ensure that parenthood, as established in one EU country, is recognised across the EU, so that children maintain their rights in cross-border situations, in particular when their families travel or move within the EU. 

In practice, however, the only people who may not be legally recognized as the parents of the children in their care in some member states are people in same-sex “marriages” who adopted children or caretakers of children conceived via surrogacy. 

The president of the Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe (FAFCE), Vincenzo Bassi, warned that the introduction of a new legal category, ‘parenthood’, which goes beyond the current terminology of ‘filiation’, does have an impact on family domestic law, even though the E.U. Commission claims that the initiative will not affect the marriage laws of E.U. member states since family law falls under the exclusive competence of the individual nations. 

Indeed, the above-said initiative of the European Commission, if approved, would automatically extend the legal effects of the filiation to all types of ‘parenthood’ legally acquired in one Member State, including through surrogacy, in all EU Member-States uniformly,” FAFCE wrote in a press release. 

“Beyond the declared intention of not interfering with Member States’ family law, this scenario would put the Commission’s proposal in contradiction with Art. 9 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, stating that The right to marry and the right to found a family shall be guaranteed in accordance with the national laws governing the exercise of these rights,’” Bassi concluded. 

FAFCE expressed its grave concern regarding “the de facto recognition of the practice of surrogacy in the initiative. 

Not only does the practice of surrogacy violate the fundamental rights and bodily integrity of women used as surrogate mothers, but also the rights of the child, who can in this way become a victim of human trafficking,” FAFCE stated in its press release. While the European Commission’s proposal presents the child’s best interest as a pillar of its proposal, the inclusion of surrogacy as one of the areas addressed is against these very best interests. 

READ: Why surrogacy and human rights are fundamentally opposed to each other 

To be passed into law, the initiative has to be adopted by the Council of the E.U. through a unanimous vote of all 27 member states after a consultation with the European Parliament. However, since Hungary and Poland announced that they are going to veto the initiative, it will likely be blocked for the time being. 

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