Property disputes following divorce or death should be easier for international marriages. This was agreed upon by EU justice ministers in Luxembourg. As there are 16 million international marriages or partnerships within the EU, there are two courts deciding on property in the case of a divorce or death. 18 EU countries, excluding Slovakia, agreed upon the automatic recognition of court verdicts. Justice Minister Lucia Žitňanská wants first to evaluate suggestions that would be raised in Slovakia.
The key problem lies in the fact that besides the property of married couples it should be decided also upon the property of registered partnerships of people of the same sex. "Until we have finished the interdepartmental review, we don't have the official stance of the Slovak Republic. We will decide at home if we are to enter this kind of mechanism," said Lucia Žitňanská after the EU Justice Ministers' meeting. The mechanism has, however, been entered by several countries which do not recognise registered partnerships.
Slovak members of the European Parliament meanwhile backed their colleagues in their support for the amendment which stops long and expensive translations of birth or marriage certificates and business licenses abroad. The recognition of these documents should be much easier for more than 14 million Europeans who live in countries other than their birth country, including Slovaks.
According to MEPs the old long recognition with stamps and translations blocked the free movement. The new rule introduces multilingual standardised documents so people don't have to have them translated. The documents will be provided with a supplement in several European languages. The so called apostil will thus cease in the EU. Slovak member of the European Parliament Vladimir Maňka explains:
"If somebody needs to recognise some document, the authority abroad will be able to connect online to the authority in the home country and thus verify the document."
EU MPs however point out that this legislation will not be valid for other types of documents. The amendment to the EU law should come into force as of 2019.
