(Brussels) “The ruling of the Grande Chambre explains that there is no obligation to acknowledge a relation when there are no biological ones. The European Court confirms that the State has sole jurisdiction on acknowledging a legal parent-child relationship even with surrogate motherhood and on protecting its own public order”. This has been written in a notice by the Commission of the EU Bishops Conferences (Comece) that goes back to the ruling issued last Tuesday about the “Paradiso-Campanelli versus Italy” case and that “confirms that the Italian authorities’ withdrawing custody over a child born from a surrogate mother, with no biological relations with the prospective parents, is perfectly legal”. According to Comece, the ruling “positively confirms that the member states have leeway to consider sensitive ethical issues”. In the notice, they insist that the European Bishops Conferences are against “any exploitation of surrogate motherhood” and that “children need to be protected from illegal practices, some of which are connected with human trafficking”. In February 2015, Comece had already taken position about surrogate motherhood, in connection with European and international rules.