Finland takes cherry-picking approach to EU divorce legislation

Brax says Finland adheres to no-fault principle

Tuija Brax

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Half of all European Union countries decided on Friday to launch “deeper cooperation” in drawing up rules for divorces in which the partners are of different nationalities.
      Finland did not join the effort, as it does not want its courts to evaluate guilt of the parties to a divorce process.
     
“Finland will continue to apply Finnish law alone”, said Minister of Justice Tuija Brax (Green) in Luxembourg on Friday during a break at a meeting of EU ministers of justice.
      Also opting out of the project are 12 other member states, including Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Poland, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.
     
Brax says that Finland can benefit from the positive aspects of the agreement.
      In the future, if a Finn marries someone from a country that applies the EU’s new divorce rules, the couple can agree to apply Finnish law in a possible split-up.
      In practice this would mean that a Finn marrying a French or German citizen would agree in advance that Finnish divorce law would be applied in a possible divorce. However, Brax doubts that many couples would think much about such matters in the throes of young love.
     
At the meeting, Brax was severely critical of the decision to launch deeper EU cooperation specifically in the area of family law.
      However, Viviane Reding, the European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, saw the deepening of cooperation as an historic event.
      Reding said that common EU rules are needed, because each year there are 140,000 divorces in the EU involving couples of different nationalities, or who live in different EU member states. These so-called international divorces constitute about 13 per cent of all divorces in the EU.
     
The proposed EU divorce law has sharply divided the views of the member states. The Nordic Countries have feared that their liberal legislation would be diluted, while many Roman Catholic countries have expressed concern that it would lead to an increase in divorces, and to the legalisation of same-sex marriages.
      Astonishment has also been raised by the fact that Spain, the current holder of the EU Presidency, persuaded Malta to join the realm of deeper cooperation, even though the law in that deeply Catholic country does not even recognise divorce.
      The legislative package still requires the approval of the European Parliament.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Justice Minister: EU divorce system not appropriate for Finland (25.3.2010)
  Finland offers compromise in EU dispute on divorce legislation (21.4.2008)

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