The European Parliament has once again called on the Council of the EU and all Member States to ratify the Istanbul Convention, a call made in an own-initiative report (see EUROPE 13107/13) adopted with 469 votes in favour, 104 against and 55 abstentions on Wednesday 15 February at the European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg.
The day before, rapporteurs Łukasz Kohut (S&D, Polish) and Arba Kokalari (EPP, Swedish) reminded the House that the Istanbul Convention is the “gold standard” and “most effective tool to combat and prevent violence against women”. However, six Member States (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia) and the EU itself have not ratified it.
“Six years have passed since the EU signed this convention, but the situation of women has not improved”, lamented Commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli, providing assurances of the European Commission’s “total commitment”.
With the exception of the ECR and ID groups and a handful of EPP MEPs, all political groups supported the report. The Conservatives considered that “accession to international conventions remains a sovereign decision of each Member State of the Union”, by means of an amendment, which was finally rejected.
The Renew Europe group proposed three amendments, adopted by the House, highlighting the threat to “women’s sexual and reproductive rights, in particular the right to abortion”, in Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and Malta.
Now the European Parliament and the Commission are counting on the Swedish Presidency of the Council to complete the process (see EUROPE 13107/12, 13093/8)... and with good reason. The dossier was discussed by the ambassadors of the EU Member States (Coreper II), in parallel with the vote in the European Parliament. While some Member States have expressed reservations about ratification by qualified majority (see EUROPE 12806/20), the aim is to reach a formal ‘agreement in principle’ at the ‘General Affairs’ Council (GAC) on 21 February.
Towards greater cooperation with the Council of Europe
After the opinion of the Court of Justice of the EU, to which the matter was referred by the European Parliament, “the lights are therefore more green and the Parliament, in agreement with the Commission, has obviously decided to send a strong signal”, said Frédérique Berrod, professor at Sciences Politiques Strasbourg.
She noted that, in parallel with its call for the ratification of the Istanbul Convention, the European Commission in March 2022 published its own proposal for an EU directive to combat violence against women and domestic violence. “The two texts complement each other. The proposed EU directive introduces, among other things, online violence, which was not included in the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention, which came into force 12 years ago. The former refers to the latter, the two are mutually reinforcing”, she said.
Ms Berrod added: “For the Council of Europe, this accession is politically very important, because behind it lies the EU’s accession to the European Convention on Human Rights. This is all in line with the 4th Summit of Heads of State and Government, which will be held in May in Reykjavik. One of its objectives is to formalise greater cooperation between the two organisations”. (Hélène Seynaeve with Véronique Leblanc)