Overview

• Parliament approved the amendment on September 26 with the minimum 90 votes in the 150-seat chamber, helped by some conservative opposition members as many opponents stayed away.
• The constitution now recognizes only male and female, tightens legal gender recognition, limits adoption to married heterosexual couples, and further restricts surrogacy.
• The text asserts Slovak law will prevail over EU rules on broadly defined matters of “national identity,” covering cultural and ethical questions, family policy and gender.
• Amnesty International, the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission and UN experts criticized the move as incompatible with human rights obligations and EU legal norms.
• The changes, set to take effect in November, have drawn warnings of potential legal conflict with the European Commission over the primacy of EU law.