Slovenia Takes Part in Initiative to Streamline EU Divorce Laws

Brussels, 25 July

Nine EU members, including Slovenia, have laid out plans to employ the EU's mechanism of enhanced cooperation to overcome the stalemate in EU divorce legislation talks after a veto by Sweden.

The initiative is the first to take advantage of the enhanced cooperation mechanism, which requires at least eight member states to band together to form their own policies, Justice Ministry State Secretary Robert Marolt explained at a meeting of the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council in Brussels on Friday.
The initiators hope that the mechanism will enable them to form a common piece of legislation that will allow transnational EU couples to choose where to divorce and end "forum shopping", an increasingly common practice where couples seek the most favourable settlement in different member states.
"The proposal brings in more legal certainty and security on one hand, and more freedom for the divorce parties on the other hand," Marolt explained.
The proposal has so far been backed by Slovenia, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Luxembourg, Romania, Hungary and Austria. Marolt expects the proposal to be filed with the European Commission on Monday.
"However, Slovenia reserves the right to withdraw its support if too few members join the initiative," he said, adding the target number was at least half of the members.
Sweden, one of the most liberal EU countries in terms of divorce law, has been opposing the streamlining of the divorce legislation, saying it was a step backward as it would have to apply foreign law in many of its divorce cases.
While the UK and Ireland seem ready to join Sweden in its reservations, most other EU countries more or less support the streamlining.
There are an estimated 180,000 divorces by transnational couples in the EU each year, compared to about 350,000 transnational marriages. This provides a strong incentive for common rules applicable across the bloc, Marolt explained.

Slovenia Takes Part in Initiative to Streamline EU Divorce Laws

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