MPs vote down same-sex parental rights bill

There will be no changes in the law on parental leave (Barsilslógin) for now.

Despite support from a coalition member, Parliament yesterday voted down a bill and an amendment seeking to accommodate same-sex couples in the Barsilslógin.

It caused a stir in the government when Johan Dahl, representing coalition party Sambandsflokkurin, announced that he was going to vote in favour of the opposition’s proposal. 

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Dahl last month issued the following statement:

“As a democratically elected representative of the Faroese people, who elected to me to make laws that are intended to provide equal rights to all citizens, I cannot accept that we as a coalition government refuse to grant minority groups such as same-sex couples and their children the same legal rights to parental leave as the rest of the country’s citizens.”

This upset a number of coalition members, who said that Dahl was in direct breach of an internal coalition agreement not to support proposals from the opposition.

 >> SEE ALSO Government torn on same-sex couples issue

In yesterday’s vote, 16 MPs voted in favour of the bill and the amendment and 16 voted against. A 17-vote majority vote is required for a bill to be passed.

Prime Minister Bárður á Steig Nielsen, who is the party leader of Sambandsflokkurin, says that the breach of the coalition agreement will have no further consequences for Dahl.

"But this has been a big blow to the coalition," the Prime Minister said yesterday.

Read the Faroese version of this article here

Translated by prosa.fo

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