The President of Poland vetoed the law on partnership

Polish President Karol Nawrocki has just blocked a law that was supposed to change the lives of two million people in the country. Two million citizens were left without basic legal protection.

What exactly happened?

Imagine that you have been living with your partner for many years in Poland, in a country of the European Union, but by law you are strangers to each other. Donald Tusk's government has tried to remedy this by proposing a law on "close person status" and a "cohabitation agreement."

But on Friday, July 17, President Navrotsky vetoed it. He said that this project goes "too far" and creates an institution that is too similar to marriage.

Do you know what's most ironic about it? It was not a "defect" even on paper. The law did not legalize same-sex marriage. It was a very modest attempt to give couples who are not officially married at least the minimum rights.

Here is a list of what people have lost because of the Polish president:

• Ability to pay taxes jointly.
• The right to receive information about the partner's health in the hospital.
• Ability to make medical decisions in emergency situations.
• The right to inheritance without huge taxes and social payments in case of loss of the breadwinner.
• The right to decide on funeral issues.

Why did the President of Poland say no?

Nawrocki is sure that the Polish Constitution protects marriage only as a union of a man and a woman. He believes that any other form of formal relations undermines this special status.

For him, this is a "quasi-marriage", and he is not ready to support this.

But that's not all.

The reaction was instant and harsh

Prime Minister Donald Tusk did not choose soft words. He called this decision "an expression of contempt for people" and their right to a normal, happy life.

Minister for Equality Katarzyna Kotula recalled: the president turned his back not only on the LGBT community. Half of these two million people are opposite-sex couples who simply do not want or cannot arrange a classic marriage.

What happens next?

Now saving the law is minimal. To overcome the president's veto, the parliament needs to collect three-fifths of the votes. The ruling coalition simply does not have such a number of deputies now.

The presidential administration promises to prepare its own, much narrower draft. But activists are skeptical. They say that even the current version was as "diluted" as possible, and the president still rejected it.