The Parliament approved new rules for divorcing international couples, who will soon be able to choose which EU country's law governs their breakup.

An end to "divorce shopping"

Divorcing in Europe? A nightmare, when  you don’t live in your country of origin.

This lawyer specialised in family law  sums up the situation.

There's always a bit of a race  to be the first to choose the court,

since the first court is,  a priori, competent for the rest.

So, when you have the choice  between Belgium and England,

you’ll act in the interests of your client,  trying to move as quickly as possible.

The situation could  become clearer in 2012,

They've signed an agreement  of co-operation in matters of divorce,

the first in EU history.  MEPs gave it their backing.

I think international couples wait for help  from the European institutions

and I think that today’s proposal  gives this help.

In practice, the couples will be able to  choose which law applies to their divorce:

the law of the country  of habitual residence,

of the country where  one of the spouses comes from,

or of the country in which  the case is brought to court.

But the rule will not apply to civil unions

or to countries which  do not recognise gay marriage.

I think there’s a distortion  between these two marriages

from the moment when certain states  recognised them as such.

Every year close to 140,000  international couples divorce in the EU.