From: EURO-LETTER
No. 115     
NEW PARTNERSHIP LAW VOTED IN LUXEMBOURG
By FRANÇOIS DIDERICH
President of Rosa Lëtzebuerg

On 12 May 2004 the Luxembourg Parliament finally voted on the draft bill on the legal effects of certain part-nerships. It will
probably  enter into force on 1 Septem-ber, depending on the timing of the publication in the Mémorial, the official bulletin.

In line with their coalition programme, the two coalition partners – the Christian Democrats (CSV) and the Liber-als (DP) – both voted in favour of the partnership bill. The two main opposition parties (the Greens and the So-cialists), however, abstained from the vote, considering the bill too restrictive. Both tabled alternative proposals on opening up marriage to same-sex couples. These, however, were rejected by the government. Inter-estingly, the Liberals support same-sex marriage in their election programme for national elections to be held on 13 June 2004.

Thus, the CSV remains the only major political party op-posed. The new partnership law is designed to propose an alternative to hetero-sexual couples who do not want to marry and a new possibility for homosexual couples who cannot marry. It has been largely inspired by the French PaCS, but with fewer formalities, a private agreement on
the patrimonial regime being an option. The law deter-mines a minimum set of rules of solidarity and responsi-bilities between the partners while allowing social protec-tion to the non-working partner and fiscal deduction pos-sibilities.

No rights concerning children are included in the new law, as are no regulations concerning recognition of for-eign partnerships or foreign same-sex marriages.