LONDON, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- European Union ministers have endorsed a set of rules ensuring same-sex married couples from the Netherlands and Belgium are recognized throughout the union.
Those two countries are the only two of 15 EU members that allow same-sex marriages.
Under the new rules, which have yet to be made law by the EU parliament, gay and lesbian EU citizens and their families will be able to move freely around the union and obtain permanent residence in any EU state once they have lived there for at least five years.
Denmark, France and Germany allow "civil unions" that provide many of the same rights as marriage but are easier to dissolve. But in more conservative countries like Italy and Greece same sex unions are still something of a taboo and no provision is made for couples from the more liberal north, the London Guardian reported.
Over two years since gay marriage legislation was approved in the Netherlands, around 4,000 marriages have been registered, but among those, the first divorces have begun to emerge.
