The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled on Thursday that national legislation preventing a citizen from amending gender data in official records after exercising the right to free movement violates EU law. With the ruling, the EU’s top court once again engaged in serious judicial activism, exerting EU powers in an area clearly under the authority of member states, with the possibility of serious confrontations with several EU countries, such as Hungary or Slovakia.
The case, C-43/24 (Shipova), originated in Bulgaria, where a citizen registered male at birth moved to Italy and began living while transitioning to a woman. When he sought to amend the gender marker on his Bulgarian birth certificate and identity documents, the request was rejected. Bulgarian law, as interpreted by its courts, does not provide a procedure for changing gender markers in civil registry documents.
Faced with the legal dispute, the Bulgarian Supreme Court of Cassation referred questions to the CJEU. In its ruling, the court concluded that a blanket refusal to update gender data in official records can hinder the EU right to freedom of movement if discrepancies between identity documents and a person’s lived identity create practical difficulties in everyday life.
‘The court concluded that a blanket refusal to update gender data in official records can hinder the EU right to freedom of movement’
The judges argued that such inconsistencies may complicate administrative procedures, employment, or cross-border travel, potentially restricting the fundamental EU right of citizens to move and reside freely within the bloc.
The decision does not directly order member states to introduce a particular system for legal gender recognition. However, it states that national authorities must provide procedures enabling citizens who have exercised free movement rights to have their gender data corrected where necessary.
Another Case of Judicial Overreach
While supporters of the ruling describe it as a protection of EU citizens’ rights, in reality it represents yet another example of judicial overreach from Brussels. Civil status law, such as birth records and identity documents, has traditionally been considered a matter of national competence. In many EU countries, including Hungary, Slovakia, and Bulgaria, the legal definition of sex is tied to biological characteristics recorded at birth.
Hungary’s position is particularly clear. The Hungarian parliament adopted legislation in 2020 defining sex as determined at birth and preventing changes to the gender marker in civil registry records. The issue was later reinforced through constitutional amendments to the country’s Fundamental Law. It was recently amended to affirm that a person’s biological sex is determined at birth as either male or female, stating that it is the state’s duty to legally protect this ‘natural order’ and to counter efforts suggesting the possibility of changing one’s gender.
Similarly, Slovakia moved to amend the Constitution to recognize only two genders—male and female—in September 2025. The Constitution now enshrines the primacy of domestic law over international law, creating another potential flashpoint between the European Commission and the two countries.
‘These cases highlight how nation-states are increasingly held hostage by a globalist class of unelected bureaucrats and judges’
The CJEU ruling has already drawn criticism for effectively using freedom of movement rules to intervene in areas that the EU treaties never explicitly transferred to the EU. It should be seen as another instance of power grab conducted through judicial activism—another attack on member states’ sovereignty.
For sovereignist governments, the case is therefore not only about yet another attempt to push gender ideology and wokeism—of which Brussels remains the final standing bastion after Donald Trump’s return to power—but also about who ultimately has the authority to define the legal order within member states.
Such judicial overreach has already appeared in rulings concerning stricter migration policies applied by certain EU countries, which make it practically impossible to deport illegal migrants even where there is clear political will to do so. These cases highlight how nation-states are increasingly held hostage by a globalist class of unelected bureaucrats and judges, who continue to impose flawed policies and push their ideological agenda onto European countries.
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