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Same-sex marriage has been legal inAndorra since 17 February 2023. Andorra first established stable unions on 23 March 2005, providing same-sex couples with some of the rights and benefits of marriage, and later enactedcivil unions on 25 December 2014, offering a greater set of rights. On 21 July 2022, theGeneral Council voted to opencivil marriage to same-sex couples. The law was promulgated byCo-PrinceEmmanuel Macron on 17 August 2022, and came into effect six months later (i.e. 17 February 2023).
Andorra was the secondEuropean microstate, the nineteenth country inEurope and the34th in the world to allow same-sex couples to marry. Civil unions are no longer available in Andorra and marriage is now the only legally recognized form of union for couples regardless of sex.
On 21 February 2005, theGeneral Council passed a bill legalising "stable unions".[1] The new law was promulgated by Co-PrinceJacques Chirac, and published in theOfficial Bulletin of the Principality of Andorra on 23 March 2005. Co-PrinceJoan Enric, theBishop of Urgell, did not sign the law. Although theco-princes are both the heads of state of Andorra, only a single signature is required to sanction and promulgate new laws, and to order their publication in theOfficial Bulletin. The relationship is calledunió estable de parella (pronounced[uniˈoesˈtableðepaˈɾeʎa], meaning "stable union of a couple") inCatalan.
Partners seeking to enter a stable union must not be related in direct line byconsanguinity oradoption, or in the collateral line by consanguinity to the fourth degree. Both partners must be adults or emancipated minors, must not be already married or in an existing stable union, must live as a couple and at least one partner must be aresident of Andorra or anAndorran national. The couple must submit an application accompanied by the following documents: a sworn declaration ofcohabitation, a copy of the currentpassport or identity document of both partners, a certificate of residency for each partner (Andorran nationals are exempt from this requirement), a private pact signed by both partners setting outproperty and personal relations arising from the relationship and the rights and obligations of the relationship, and a sworn statement by two witnesses confirming the permanent nature of the cohabitation.[2] The stable union is registered six months after the declaration and is then entered into the Register of Stable Unions (Registre d'unions estables de parella).
A couple in a stable union have legal rights and responsibilities, including the obligation to support one another, the right tocompensation andmaintenance in the event of abreakup and the same rights as spouses for the purposes ofsocial security andemployment law. The stable union law also recognises the right to adopt a child, subject to the same rules as a married couple, but only for heterosexual couples.[3] A stable union ends by themarriage of either party, the death of either party, a unilateral declaration by formal written notification notified to the other party or a mutual declaration.
On 2 June 2014, following an earlier announcement,[4] the rulingDemocrats for Andorra (DA) party introduced a bill to establishcivil unions (unió civil).[5] The civil unions were intended to be equal to marriage in everything but name, as the word "marriage" was the main reason why the DA voted against the Social Democrats' same-sex marriage bill in May 2014. The bill would also grant same-sex couplesjoint adoption rights.[6] After months of consultation, the bill passed theGeneral Council on 27 November 2014 on a vote of 20 to 3 with several abstentions. The bill was published in the official journal on 24 December, followingpromulgation by Co-PrinceFrançois Hollande, and took effect on 25 December 2014.[7][8] AndorranLGBT groups denounced the law as discriminatory.[9]
| Party | Voted for | Voted against | Abstained | Absent (Did not vote) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democrats for Andorra | 18
| – | – | 2
|
| Social Democratic Party | – | 3
| 3
| – |
| Lauredian Union | 2
| – | – | – |
| Total | 20 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 71.4% | 10.7% | 10.7% | 7.1% |
The ability to enter into a civil union ended on 17 February 2023, and all unions were converted to civil marriages.[10]
By the end of 2017, 35 same-sex civil unions had been performed in Andorra; 21 were between male couples and 14 between female couples.[11]
On 21 April 2009, theSocial Democratic Party (PS) led byJaume Bartumeu announced that it would push for a debate onsame-sex marriage in Andorra if it won the2009 elections. The Social Democrats won the election and Bartumeu becamehead of government on 5 June 2009, but no subsequent action was taken to legalise same-sex marriage,[12][13][14] and the PS was defeated by theDemocrats for Andorra in the2011 parliamentary elections.
In January 2013, the Andorran Superior Council of Justice granted social security survivor's benefits to Juan García Pérez, who had married his late husband inSpain, but had never registered a stable union in Andorra.[15] The first same-sex marriage in Andorra occurred at theFrench embassy inAndorra la Vella in November 2013. The marriage was performed under French law;France havinglegalized same-sex marriage earlier that year.[16]
On 31 March 2014, the Social Democratic Party introduced a bill to legalize same-sex marriage.[17][18][19] On 29 May 2014, the bill was rejected by theGeneral Council.[20][21] Supporters of the bill had presented some 3,000 signatures in favor of same-sex marriage to the Council, hoping to persuade lawmakers to support it.[22] The Democrats for Andorra, who had voted against the bill, announced their intention to introduce civil unions instead; civil union legislation was introduced on 2 June 2014, and enacted on 25 December 2014.
On 10 March 2020, the three parties forming the governing coalition, the Democrats for Andorra, theLiberals andCommitted Citizens, presented a draft bill to legalize same-sex marriage. It was consulted with the Bar Association and the Superior Council of Justice, before being submitted to the General Council on 24 November 2020.[23][24][25][26][27][28] The government published its endorsement of the bill on 17 December.[29] The legislation would have created two forms of marriage;civil marriage (casament civil), open to both same-sex and different-sex couples, and "canonical marriage" (matrimoni canònic) performed by religious authorities, mainly belonging to theCatholic Church in Andorra. Both would have conferred the same legal rights and benefits. The bill was underpublic consultation until 13 April 2022, following more than 12 extensions in the midst of theCOVID-19 pandemic,[30] and was voted on by the General Council as part of a new family code on 21 July 2022. The articles regarding same-sex marriage were voted on separately and were approved with 18 votes in favour and 6 votes against, while the rest of the code was approved unanimously 25–0.[23] The law waspromulgated by Co-PrinceEmmanuel Macron and published in theOfficial Bulletin on 17 August 2022.[31] It came into effect six months after publication (i.e. 17 February 2023).[32][33][34]
| Party | Voted for | Voted against | Abstained | Absent (Did not vote) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democrats for Andorra | 9
| – | – | |
| Social Democratic Party | – | 6
| – | 1
|
| Liberals of Andorra | 2
| – | – | 2
|
| Committed Citizens | 3
| – | – | – |
| Third Way | 3
| – | – | – |
| Independent | – | – | – | |
| Total | 18 | 6 | 0 | 4 |
| 64.3% | 21.4% | 0.0% | 14.3% |
MPCarles Enseñat Reig welcomed the vote, saying, "It is a law of a modern country that ensures the free development of citizenship and bases its success on the most primordial organizational nucleus — the family — with all its diversity".[35] The law provides same-sex couples with all the legal rights, benefits and responsibilities of marriage, including the right of lesbian couples to accessartificial insemination.[36] Marriage officers are not able to refuse to preside over a civil marriage, except if they have notified the civil registry, at which point another marriage officer would solemnize the marriage. The law initially recognized two forms of marriage:casament civil andmatrimoni canònic, which according to article 78 would have had the same legal effects. Nevertheless, the Social Democrats opposed the law because they viewed the two forms of marriage as discriminatory.[37] The party proposed an amendment during the parliamentary discussion to change the wording for civil marriage tomatrimoni civil,[38] but it was defeated.[39] The law made Andorra one of the last countries inWestern Europe and the34th in the world to legalise same-sex marriage.[40][41]
In October 2022, the Constitutional Court agreed to hear a case filed by the Social Democratic Party contesting the distinction betweencasament andmatrimoni.[42] In December, the court ruled that the use of two different terms for marriage was unconstitutional. It found the concept of differentiating and definingmatrimoni canònic to be discriminatory, given that same-sex couples, as well as non-Catholic couples, would not be eligible for them, and thus annulled the section of the law that distinguished between the two terms. The government issued a statement that it would respect the court ruling, and announced it would study the ruling to determine if any further modifications to the law would be needed.[43] On 30 January 2023, Parliament abolished the distinction between civil and religious marriages,[44] so that all marriages would now be known asmatrimoni.
Article 77(2) (Title II, Chapter I, Section II) of the new Family Code reads:
According to a 2013 survey by theInstitut d'Estudis Andorrans, 70% of Andorrans were in favour of same-sex marriage, 19% were against and 11% were undecided or had refused to answer.[45]
