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 On 9 November 2016, the Government submitted a draft bill equalizing cohabitation agreements with marriages in most areas. The bill was approved by Parliament on 2 December, in a 201-21 vote. It was signed into law by President Prokopis Pavlopoulos on 8 December 2016 and took effect upon publication in the government gazette the following day. The number of cohabitation agreements per year is as follows: Gay rights group OLKE announced its intention to sue Greek municipalities that refuse to marry same-sex couples, pointing out a loophole in the 1982 law that legalized civil marriage between "persons", without reference to