Civil Union Rights in Croatia Around the Corner

Croatia is set to give gay couples who wished to get married the same rights as heterosexual married couples. Speaking in an interview recently, Croatia’s Public Administration Minister Arsen Bauk announced that plans are being drawn up to allow civil unions in Croatia by the end of the year.

Bauk said that gay couples with enjoy the same rights as heterosexual couples, such as social security benefits, tax benefits and inheritance from a deceased partner, but they will not be able to get married in a church.

“They will not be called marriages, but ‘life partnerships’,” said Bauk, adding that the civil unions will be conducted at registry offices. It is still unclear whether or not allowing adoption for gay couples will feature in the governments plans.

Recently the movement ‘U ime obitelji’ (in the name of the family) gathered over 700,000 signatures and presented them to Parliament to try to force a referendum. The group want the definition of matrimony as the union of life between a man and a woman to be stated in the constitution.