On the evening of Tuesday 3 October, the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament held their second round of negotiations on the draft directive to combat violence against women, during the plenary session in Strasbourg. The meeting focused on the offences to be included in the legislation, but the results were inconclusive.
“We have a lot of work to do in the trilogues”, acknowledged Frances Fitzgerald (EPP, Irish), co-rapporteur with Evin Incir (S&D, Swedish) on the dossier. “The Spanish Presidency [of the Council of the EU] is very motivated to get an agreement at Council level, particularly [they and we] would like the inclusion of rape”.
Inclusion of rape
Indeed, it was the inclusion of rape in the list of offences covered by the legislation that took up most of the debate. Championed by the European Parliament and the European Commission, the provision would ensure minimum standards for sanctions and a common definition based on the absence of consent across the EU.
While Spain is in favour of including rape in the directive (see EUROPE 13253/26), the Presidency must comply with the negotiating mandate received from the Member States. The latter have opted to exclude this provision from their general approach, arguing that the EU does not have the powers to legislate on the subject (see EUROPE 13198/1).
This interpretation is refuted by the reporters and the Commission, who point out that “sexual exploitation of women and children” is listed in Article 83(1) of the TFEU (see EUROPE 13221/26).
Convincing Member States
While Madrid has undertaken to convey the European Parliament’s arguments to the Member States, the EU27 as a whole still needs to be convinced. While some countries, such as Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy and Greece, distanced themselves from the EU Council’s position on rape from the outset, this is not the case for all of them.
“Now other Member States, like Sweden, France, the Netherlands also need to move towards the same understanding that we need to act forcefully and combat this heinous violence against women and girls”, stressed Ms Incir.
In France, MEPs such as Raphaël Glucksmann (S&D) and Nathalie Colin-Oesterlé (EPP), as well as a section of civil society, have called on their government to review its plans. Associations such as the European Women’s Lobby have also pointed the finger at Germany.
In addition to rape, the European Parliament proposed including other forms of violence in the list of offences, such as female genital mutilation and that towards intersex people, harassment at work, forced marriages and forced sterilisation.
The next meeting of inter-institutional negotiations will be held in mid-November. (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)