ABSTRACT
Despite having no competence to harmonise family law, except in cross-border issues, the European Union must respect fundamental rights, including non-discrimination and family life. The chapter distinguishes between formal family ties, and de facto family life, and shows how those two dimensions have different impacts when EU law deals with rainbow families. Family life is a question of fact that the Union is entitled to define autonomously. Multilevel protection of rights enshrined in the ECHR and in the Charter are described in terms of a human rights cascade effect. Examples of this effect are drawn from the CJEU case law on trans and gay employment discrimination, and freedom of movement of same-gender couples. Hypothetical scenarios encompass parenthood in the context of medically assisted reproduction, divorce, discrimination in the area of Union citizenship and circulation of public documents. Finally, the argument is raised that the Union cannot embrace merely one definition of family, but must necessarily remain open to and protect pluralism in family patterns.
