They point out that there are now two civil unions for every three marriages. Moreover no one, though, anticipated how many couples would make use of the new 1999 law (essentially for homosexual couples). Nor was it predicted that by 2009 (ten years later), the overwhelming majority of civil unions would be between straight couples.
www.smh.com.au/world/french-lovers-tie-the-knot-but-theyre-not-the-marrying-kind-20101217-190qz.html
Sayare and le Baume stated that it was unclear whether the idea of a civil union, called a pacte civil de solidarite, has responded to a shift in social attitudes or caused one. It is however remarkably well suited to France and its particularities about marriage, divorce, religion and taxes.
Unlike marriage, a Civil Union can be dissolved with just a registered letter (it could become a case of watching the letter box). Although tongue in cheek, it represents couples like Maud Hugot 32 who said, "We're the generation of divorced parents,'' who signed a pacte civil de solidarite with her girlfriend, Nathalie Mondot, 33 last year.
Under French law, only ''citizens'' are recognised, and the country's legal principles hold that special rights should not be accorded to particular groups or ethnicities. So civil unions were made available to everyone. Last year 173,045 couples signed up and 95% were heterosexual couples.
Here's the rub: French civil unions allow couples to file joint tax returns, exempt spouses from inheritance taxes, permit partners to share insurance policies, ease access to residency permits for foreigners and make partners responsible for each other's debts. Concluding a civil union requires little more than a single appearance before a judicial official.
The French Catholic Church, which initially condemned the partnerships, has relented. The French National Confederation of Catholic Family Associations now says that civil unions do "not" pose ''a real threat".
Well-Being Australia chairman Mark Tronson says that it is important to note here that every single marriage in France is a civil union. Those who want a Church-endorsed marriage have a second ceremony. In other words, 100% of registered marriages are civil unions. Many other European countries are the same. So traditionally, couples in France have two ceremonies, but the only legal one is the registry office. The other, the Church one, is just for show (photographs) or for religious conviction (and that over 90% of French people are Catholic, so this may be important to them).
There are two types of civil unions now (as per the SMH article), with only one called a 'marriage'. However, since the French are 'used' to having the two marriage ceremonies, with only the Civil one being legal, they have probably embraced this new law more easily than those from other countries.
It was after the French revolution that civil marriages were given primacy over religious ones in France, in particular – but they have a long history in Europe – Calvin, the great Protestant theologian insisted that civil marriages were necessary first. Our English heritage is the one that is out of step, the exception, to the idea of civil unions of any type. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_marriage
The change in French law in 1999 has somehow created a completely different attitude to this type of contract. In actuality, the couples just 'choose' which 'contract' suits them best...just like when buying a house, choosing whether 'joint tenants' or 'tenants in common' suits the couple best. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacte_civil_de_solidarit%C3%A9
Mark Tronson says that this begs the question – does an outward commitment to a particular style of marriage have anything at all with a commitment to Jesus Christ? He suggests that world-wide, and even here in Australia where (despite the popularity of civil celebrants) many choose to get married in a church – preferably a 'fashionable' or 'photogenic' church – that there is absolutely no correlation.
Some Christians opt for simple ceremonies, and some non-committed or non-Christians opt for Church ceremonies. And even more so in countries like France, where the religious ceremony was always secondary.
Some Australian law makers have been looking at the French Civil Union model in relation to the Marriage Act which remains that of a man and a woman. The Australian laws regarding defacto unions have the same legal responsibilities and are determined after a break up. The French model reverses this, and places the legal determints up front and moreover, in France only Citizens can 'marry' whereas immigrants need to use the "civil union' option, particularly with its tax breaks.
I have a lot of sympathy behind the evangelical movement in France, that the union between a Christian man and a Christian woman is primarily a contract before God and each other. Civil marriage is a matter of French law and national philosophy.