February 2017, by 120–48. The new marriage law took effect on 1 March 2017. France Since 1999, same-sex civil unions (PACS) have been legal in France. In June 2011, an Ifop poll found that 63% of respondents were in favour of same-sex marriage. France legalised same-sex marriage on 23 April 2013. The bill was confirmed in the Constitutional Court of France on 17 May 2013 and signed by the French President on 18 May 2013. Germany Equal marriage (including full adoption rights) was passed by the Lower House of the German Parliament (the Bundestag) on 30 June 2017, was approved by the Upper House (the Bundesrat) on 7 July, and was signed into law on 20 July 2017 by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. It came into effect on 1 October 2017. Registered life partnerships (Eingetragene Lebenspartnerschaft) (effectively, a form of civil union) have been instituted since 2001, giving same-sex couples most of the rights and obligations of marriage. Step-child adoption was legalized in 2004 and extended to children adopted by one partner first (successive adoption) in 2013. Greece In Greece, there is a legal recognition of same-sex couples since 24 December 2015. Attempts to give equal rights to registered partners or to legalize same-sex marriage began in Spring 2008, after the Greek Minister of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights announced that a bill was to be introduced to the Hellenic Parliament in order to regulate civil partnerships for opposite-sex couples, but refused to include provisions for same-sex couples as well. In 2013 the case was brought to the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled that the exclusion of same-sex couples from the bill was discriminatory and a violation of human rights. On 9 November 2015, a new bill granting same-sex couples all the rights of marriage except adoption was published. After a public consultation, which ended on 20 November 2015, the bill was submitted to the Hellenic Parliament on 9 December 2015, and approved 14 days later, on 23 December, with 194 MPs voting yes, 55 voting no and 51 being absent. The following day, the law was signed by the President of Greece and published in the government gazette. It took effect upon publication. Hungary Unregistered cohabitation has been recognized since 1996. It applies to any couple living together in an economic and sexual relationship(common-law marriage), including same-sex couples. No official registration is required. The law gives some specified