Polish President Karol Nawrocki did not sign the bill on the “status of the closest person,” under which same-sex unions could have been legalized in the country.

“I will now move on to the laws that did not receive my approval and for which I must exercise the presidential right of veto. There are two of them. The law on the status of the closest person in a union and a mutual cohabitation agreement, as well as the law containing the introductory provisions,” Nawrocki said in a video address published on his chancellery’s page on X.

“These bills create a new formalized institution in family law with a wide range of rights close to those of spouses. A legal path is being opened to marriage under another name and without the full list of obligations that entering into marriage entails,” Nawrocki emphasized. “As the guarantor of the constitution, I cannot approve decisions that would lead to the loss of the special status of marriage, described in Article 18 of the constitution as a union between a man and a woman and placed under the protection and care of the Republic of Poland,” he added.