Same-sex marriage in Belgium Same-sex marriage in Belgium On 1 June 2003, Belgium became the second country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage, after the Netherlands. "Statutory cohabitation", open to any two legally consenting cohabiting persons, is also possible since 1 January 2000. In 1995, a bill was introduced in Parliament to provide for a legal framework of "cohabitation agreements". It was mostly intended as a response to the lowering marriage rates, rather than giving rights to same-sex couples. In 1998, the bill was changed to "statutory cohabitation" (; ; ) and finally voted on. The Chamber of Representatives approved it by a
Recognition of same-sex unions in Greece agreements to same-sex couples. It was also reported that the Ministry of Justice is not considering same-sex marriage. On 9 February 2015, the Syriza-led coalition Government, sworn in on 27 January 2015, promised to extend cohabitation agreements to same-sex couples. On 24 April 2015, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Justice announced the Government's intention to bring a bill before Parliament within two months. Shortly after, a committee was formed to study the issue until 15 June 2015. The bill was published on 10 June 2015. On 9 November 2015, a new draft of the cohabitation agreement bill ("Law