Slovakia has approved a constitutional amendment to limit the rights of same-sex couples.
The country’s parliament on Friday approved the change, which states that male and female will be the only recognised genders, and that school curricula must respect the cultural and ethical positions set out in the constitution.
The amendment was approved with the minimum necessary 90 votes in the 150-seat lower house with the help of some conservative members of the opposition.
The vote marks a sweeping change for the European Union (EU), as a national law takes precedence over EU law, potentially posing a challenge to the functioning of the 27-nation bloc.
Nationalist Prime Minister Robert Fico has billed the constitutional change as “a dam against progressivism”.
After the vote, Michal Simecka, leader of the strongest opposition party in parliament, Progressive Slovakia, said the amendment “will hurt the people of Slovakia and call into question Slovakia’s place in the EU and its legal space”.
After the amendment was proposed in late January, Fico framed the need for it as a way of upholding “the traditions, the cultural and spiritual heritage of our ancestors” to construct a “constitutional barrier against progressive politics” and restore “common sense”.
“There are two sexes, male and female”, defined at birth, the proposal states – an echo of United States President Donald Trump’s inauguration speech.
“Sex cannot be modified except for serious reasons, according to procedures that will be established by law,” it continues.
The amendment also authorises adoption only for married couples, with rare exceptions.
Slovakia’s constitution already defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, following an amendment from 2014, when Fico was also prime minister.
It also states that Slovakia’s “sovereignty” regarding “cultural and ethical questions” should override EU law.
MP Maria Kolikova, of the centre-right Freedom and Solidarity party, warned that the constitutional change could jeopardise EU funds for Slovakia and undermine its membership of Europe’s top rights organisation, the Council of Europe.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission warned about “the need for the definitions of ‘national identity’ and ‘cultural and ethical issues’ not to create a conflict with the existing international obligations of the Slovak Republic”.
The legal advisory body also cautioned “that entrenching a strict binary understanding of sex in the Constitution should not result in justifying discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in subsequent legislation or state measures”.
Amnesty International also criticised Slovakia’s amendment, saying the changes targeted LGBTI+ and reproductive rights.
“This is devastating news. Instead of taking concrete measures to protect the rights of LGBTI+ people, children, and women, our parliament voted to adopt constitutional amendments that put the constitution in direct conflict with international law,” Amnesty Slovakia chief Rado Sloboda said in a statement.
Since his return to power in 2023, Fico has faced a series of protests in his 5.4-million-strong country over this drive to curb rights. He has tightened his grip on what he deems “hostile” media and replaced leading figures in the country’s cultural institutions.
Fico, one of the Kremlin’s few allies within the EU, has also drawn Bratislava closer to Moscow.
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