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The Tocqueville Connection
FRENCH LEFT WINS ANOTHER ROUND FOR COUPLES SOLIDARITY PACT
First published Nov. 12, 1999
PARIS, Nov 9 (AFP) - The French left earned another political victory Tuesday when the Constitutional Council ruled that a bill adopted last month recognizing unmarried same-sex and heterosexual couples was not contrary to the constitution.
Conservatives, outraged at the bill's passage, hoped to hold up application of the law by asking the Constitutional Council, France's legislative watchdog, to review the text.
But after a year of bitter controversy and debate, the bill seems destined to become French law, as the council's decision frees French President Jacques Chirac to sign the bill into law.
Chirac strongly criticized the bill last week, but experts say he will not request a new debate on the bill, since his request would first have to be approved by French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, who supports the legislation.
Called the Civil Solidarity Pact, but better known by its acronym in French, PACS, the law aims to allow unmarried heterosexuals and homosexuals to register their union "in order to organize their common life."
Such couples, whatever their sex, will gain inheritance, housing and social welfare rights, as well as the right to pay joint taxes -- rights which conservative groups and the country's churches have argued should be reserved for married people.
The Council ruled the law would not modify constitutional principles of civil status, dependence, parental authority or minors' rights.
But it did raise questions about the clause allowing couples to file joint tax returns, saying the benefits couples draw from a joint filing should not be excessive compared to those available to single tax filers.
Twelve protesters opposed to the law gathered Tuesday night outside the Constitutional Council, wearing t-shirts with the slogan "Family Generation."
The law will bring French social policy in
line with policies already in place in the Netherlands, Sweden,
Denmark and Spanish Catalonia. Germany has said it will soon
launch a similar initiative.
P991112D.HTM Nov. 12, 1999
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P991112D.HTM Nov. 12, 1999