Join our webinar on bringing cases before the European Commission

As part of our advocacy to ensure that EU law is applied without discrimination and that CJEU judgments recognising LGBTI rights, like the Coman judgement, are properly implemented in all EU Member States, ILGA-Europe is holding a webinar on bringing cases to the European Commission.

Bringing complaints before the European Commission serves as a basis for raising awareness on the obstacles faced by LGBTI people, and for initiating a formal infringement procedure against a Member State to help ensure its compliance with EU law.

This webinar is for all LGBTI organisations and activists in the European Union. Our speakers and experts will share their experience of bringing cases to the European Commission on discriminatory application of EU law and failure of implementation of CJEU judgments, as well as provide guidance on EU law aspects that can be challenged through the procedure.

The webinar will take place on Thursday, 30 April 2020 between 10:00 and 11:30 CEST.

Moderated by Arpi Avetisyan, Senior Litigation Officer at ILGA-Europe, the panel will host:

  • Teodora Ion-Rotaru – Executive Director of ACCEPT Romania,
  • Professor Alina Tryfonidou – Professor of Law at the University of Reading, and
  • Etienne Deshoulières – Deshoulières Avocats AssociĂ©s Law Firm.

Contributions from European Commission experts:

  • Maria Vilar Badia, Legislative Officer at DG JUST of the European Commission,
  • BĂ©nĂ©dicte Marquet, Legal and Policy officer at DG JUST of the European Commission, Unit – Union citizenship rights and free movement.


About the speakers:

Teodora Roseti-Ion-Rotaru, Executive Director of ACCEPT Romania

Teodora Roseti-Ion-Rotaru is the Executive Director of ACCEPT Association. She joined the organisation in 2013, as a volunteer. Throughout her time at ACCEPT, Teodora coordinated programs, the relationship with the media, partners and the community, and led notorious public campaigns, chiefly the national communication regarding the Coman case (2016-2018) and the boycott campaign regarding the national referendum to ban same sex marriage in the Romanian Constitution (2018). A graduate of the European Administrative Affairs program at the College of Europe (Bruges), where she specialized in interest representation and Europeanization, Teodora is a convinced federalist and fights illiberalism and shallow Europeanization in eastern accession member states through activism for democracy and human rights.

Professor Alina Tryfonidou, Professor of Law at the University of Reading

Professor Alina Tryfonidou joined the University of Reading as a Lecturer in September 2011, after being a Lecturer in Law at the University of Leicester from 2007 to 2011. She taught European Law as a Visiting Tutor (2005-2007 and 2010-2011) at King’s College London. Professor Tryfonidou obtained her LLB (2001), LLM (2002) and PhD (2008) from King’s College London and is an Associate of King’s College (AKC) since 2008. She is a non-practising member of the Cyprus Bar since 2003, a Fellow of the Centre of European Law at King’s College London since 2007, and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) since 2016. In 2004, Professor Tryfonidou completed a traineeship at the European Commission in Brussels and in 2010-2011 she was an Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS) Visiting Fellow in London. Professor Tryfonidou’s research interests focus on EU free movement law and the protection of LGBT+ rights.

Etienne Deshoulières, Deshoulières Avocats Associés Law Firm

Founder of the Deshoulières Avocats Associés Law Firm, also Research Associate at the Law Research Institute of University Panthéon-Sorbonne Paris I and Professor at the University Panthéon-Assas Paris II. He is currently involved in 60 LGBT cases before the French and European tribunals.

See also

News

Significant European Court judgments in two cases concerning violence against LGBTI people involving state agents

Two successful European Court cases brought against Russia underline state obligations to protect LGBTI community from violent counter demonstrators and general hate motivated violence.
read more
News

Romania failed to protect same-sex couples, European court rules

European court has found that Romania breached the right to respect for the family life of 21 same-sex Romanian couples by failing to recognise their relationships.
read more
Blog

The infringement against Hungary: Behind the scenes

As the deadline for member states to decide whether they will join the European Commission’s lawsuit against Hungary for its introduction of anti-LGBTI legislation fast approaches, we look at the vital work ILGA-Europe has been doing behind the scenes to bring this case before the EU Court of Justice and to bring countries on board.
read more
Press Release

Romanian transgender man’s landmark case requesting that Romania acknowledges his UK gender recognition referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union

Arian Mirzarafie-Ahi, a transgender man with Romanian and British citizenship, has filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit in Romania against Romanian authorities over their refusal to recognize […]
read more
News

After Polish Case, CJEU Rules to Protect Self-employed Workers based on Sexual Orientation

In December 2017, a self-employed worker and his partner published a music video on YouTube aimed at promoting tolerance towards same-sex couples. Shortly after the […]
read more
Press Release

LGBTI organisations welcome EU parental recognition proposal with the best interests of the child at its core

EU-wide parenthood recognition is key in ensuring equal protection for all children in the Union, say ILGA-Europe and NELFA.
read more
News

Sexual orientation is not a reason to terminate a contract with a self-employed worker, says Advocate General of the CJEU

Today, the Advocate General of the CJEU has issued an opinion in the case of J.K. vs the Polish public broadcaster company TP, stating that discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment is not acceptable under EU law.
read more
Blog

Update: The Rights of Rainbow Families in the EU

The Court of Justice of the EU has ruled in two occasions over recent months that EU countries must protect the freedom of movement of rainbow families. This is a right all EU citizens should enjoy, LGBTI people too. In today’s blog, we bring you the state of LGBTI people’s family rights in different EU countries.
read more
News

Rainbow families have the right to move and reside freely, EU court reiterates

The Court of Justice of the EU has stated that birth certificates issued in an EU country must be recognised across the EU, and that EU countries should protect the freedom of movement of rainbow families.
read more
News

Hungary to be Brought Before Top EU Court For its Ban on LGBTI Content

The European Commission has referred Hungary to the CJEU over discriminatory amendments adopted in June 2021, which ban the “portrayal and the promotion of gender […]
read more
News

Complaint Filed with EC Against Lack of Free Movement for Same-sex Couples in hungary

ILGA-Europe, alongside a Hungarian activist organisation, have filed a complaint against Hungary because of its refusal to implement the 2018 Coman judgement, which recognises that […]
read more
Case Law

A.B. and K.V. v Romania

Recognition of same-sex marriages in the context of freedom of movement in the EU through the prism of implementation of CJEU’s Coman judgment Submitted jointly […]
read more
Blog

How Baby Sara and her mums have pushed forward the rights of all rainbow families across the EU

When an EU country recognises a child and its same-sex parents as a family, all EU countries should recognise them as such, so to guarantee their freedom of movement. This is what the EU’s top court ruled in December. But how this case has advanced LGBTI rights in the European Union and what comes next for rainbow families?
read more
Case Law

Macaté v. Lithuania

Freedom of expression, warning labels restricting artistic expression.
read more
Podcast

Hope and the LGBTI Movement in 2021

It was a year of further lockdowns, of new strains of the COVID virus, and the uncertainty they have brought, and most of all, enormous […]
read more
Blog

What has 2021 meant to the LGBTI movement in Europe? Listen to our latest podcast episode to find out this year’s highlights

As 2021 comes to an end, we have collected some of the moments, events and trends that have marked the year in the latest episode of The Frontline, ILGA-Europe’s podcast about LGBTI activism and lives in Europe and Central Asia. Read here some of the episode’s highlights and find out reasons to stay hopeful in 2022.
read more
Press Release

Top EU Court Recognises Relationship of Same-sex Parents and their Children Under EU Law

In a landmark judgement, the Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that a child and its same-sex parents must be recognised as […]
read more
Case Law

Coman and Others v Romania

Recognition of same-sex marriages in the context of freedom of movement in the EU through the prism of implementation of CJEU’s Coman judgment.
read more
Blog

How trans parents are better protected after European Court ruling

Recently, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in favour of a trans woman in Russia who was denied access to her children because of her gender identity and transition. Read on to find out how this may benefit all trans and LGBTI parents in Europe.
read more
News

European Court rules in favour of the best interest of the child in same-sex custody case

The European Court of Human rights has ruled that the refusing a mother custody of her youngest child on the grounds of her sexual orientation to be discriminatory and a violation of her right to private and family life.
read more
Blog

Freedom of movement for same-sex spouses: The Coman Case, 3 years on

ON 5 JUNE 2018, THE COURT OF JUSTICE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION (CJEU) ISSUED A LANDMARK JUDGEMENT AGAINST ROMANIA, RECOGNISING THAT THE TERM SPOUSE INCLUDES SAME-SEX SPOUSES UNDER EU FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT LAWS. THREE YEARS LATER, CLAI HAMILTON, SPOUSE OF ROMANIAN CITIZEN ADRIAN COMAN, HAS NOT BEEN GRANTED RESIDENCY YET. NOW THEY’VE BROUGHT THE CASE TO THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS (ECHR). HERE, ADRIAN COMAN TALKS ABOUT THE ORIGINAL CASE, AND HIS HOPES WITH THIS LATEST DEVELOPMENT.
read more
News

We welcome today’s judgment from the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Association ACCEPT and Others v. Romania

We welcome today’s judgment from the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Association ACCEPT and Others v. Romania.  The Court found a […]
read more
Podcast

Rainbow Family Rights in Europe – Part 1: The Coman Case Three Years On

Three years ago, Adrian and his partner Clai were successful bringing their case to the Court of Justice of the European Union, which judged that […]
read more
Podcast

Rainbow Family Rights in Europe – Part 2: Baby Sara, Stateless Child

We meet Kalina and Jane, from Bulgaria and the UK respectively. Because their daughter Sara was born in Gibraltar, she cannot claim UK citizenship via […]
read more
News

Opinion from European court: same-sex parented families should be officially recognised in all EU member states

Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the European Union’s opinion says that Bulgaria’s lack of recognition for same-sex parented families cannot justify a violation of EU freedom of movement law.
read more
News

Is The EU an LGBTIQ Freedom Zone? 

The ambition is right, but the reality is very different, says leading European LGBTI rights organisation
read more
News

European Court will consider lack of implementation of EU law to enable freedom of movement for same-sex spouses

Almost three years after the European Court ruled that Romania must recognise a same-sex couple under EU freedom of movement legislation, its government is yet to implement the judgement.
read more
Press Release

European Court must rule in favour of a child at risk of statelessness and her family’s freedom of movement in the EU, say leading LGBTI rights organisations

Authorities in Bulgaria have not recognised the valid EU birth certificate of the child of a same-sex couple. On February 9, the Court of Justice of the European Union must clarify that if you are a parent in one EU country, you are a parent in every EU country.
read more
Case Law

V.D. v Russia

Asylum. Submitted jointly by ILGA-Europe, AIRE Centre, ICJ and UKLGIG.
read more
Case Law

A.H. and Others v Germany

Recognition of trans parenthood.
read more