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With today's judgement which is final, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights satisfies the plaintiffs in the case "Vallianatos and Others v. Greece". According to the judgement, the country is declared to be in violation of Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) and Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The case concerns the "civil unions" introduced into the Greek legislation by the vote on Law № 3719 in 2008. It provides for the signing of an official document that recognizes the personal commitment of two partners who are living together but are not married.

According to the claim submitted, the Greek law provides that option only for different-sex couples and in practice does not allow the same to apply to same-sex couples. The claim also states that, in this way, the Greek state has imposed discrimination against same-sex couples.

In its reasoning, the court states that, out of 19 countries which provide for registered partnerships or relationships different from marriage, Greece and Lithuania are the only ones which allow them only to different-sex couples. The judges consider that Greece has failed to provide sufficient arguments in support of the statement that this separation is necessary to achieve a legitimate goal.

The facts

The first claim was filed by two Greek nationals, Grigoris Vallianatos and Nikolaos Mylonas in 2009. Six other Greek nationals and the association Synthesi - Information, Awareness-raising and Research filed the second later that year.

Vallianatos and Mylonas are living together as a couple. C.S. and E.D., and K.T. and M.P., lived together as a couple for a long time. A.H. and D.N. have a relationship but they are not living together for professional and social reasons. In one of the relationships, one partner pays the social contributions of the other. The seventh plaintiff is a private non-profit organisation, one of the purposes of which is to provide psychological and moral support for gays and lesbians.

On 26 November 2008, Act 3719 entered into force which provides for the possibility of signing an agreement for civil union. Under Article 1 of that law, only different-sex adults can sign such agreement.

The claims and the procedure

The plaintiffs have invoked Article 14 in conjunction with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, stating that the law violates their right to private and family life and, as a result, makes undue distinction between different-sex and same-sex couples.

The main plaintiff in the case is Grigoris Vallianatos, leader of the Liberal Alliance and a renowned activist for human rights. You can read his interview for GRReporter here.

So far, there has been no response from the Greek government and parliamentary parties. Following the decision of the European Court, "the cabinet will either change the law, or will again become a laughing stock if it ignores it," users of social media comment.

The full text of the judgement is available here.