Why Italy must recognise gay marriage | Marriage and adoption LGBT 2015

It said 24 out of 47 member states of the Council of Europe rights watchdog had already legislated in favour of same-sex unions.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) delivered a pioneering ruling condemning Italy for failing to legalise same-sex unions and demanding its introduction. The predominantly Catholic country is the only Western European nation without any type of formal recognition for same-sex relationships.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has now pledged to introduce a law on civil unions by the end of the year.

The Conservative government want the United Kingdom courts and parliament the “final say” on human rights issues rather than the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and dilute or remove ECHR from playing a significant role in local legislations.

In their ruling, a panel of seven judges said same-sex couples in Italy needed greater legal rights.

The majority held that states still had flexibility to determine “the exact status conferred” to same-sex couples and “the rights and obligations” that partnership status created. “The court considered that the legal protection now available in Italy to same-sex couples… not only failed to provide for the core needs relevant to a couple in a stable committed relationship, but it was also not sufficiently reliable”, according to the ruling.

The Oliary decision stopped short of overturning its 2010 ruling, Schalk and Kopf v. Austria, in which it ruled that European Convention on Human Rights did not obligate states to establish marriage equality.

ECHR rejected however that Italy was in breach of the European Convention, concerning the right to marry and discrimination, noting that legalizing same-sex marriage is just one avenue of enshrining rights for same-sex couples in law.

The decision said that “Court can not but attach some importance” to ” the continuing worldwide movement towards legal recognition” for same-sex couples.