At their plenary session in Brussels on Thursday 13 November, MEPs adopted the report by Marko Vešligaj (S&D, Croatian) on the European strategy for equality between women and men (310 votes in favour, 222 against and 68 abstentions).
MEPs were urging the Commission to show ambition in its 2026–2030 strategy, particularly with regard to the fight against gender-based violence.
MEPs also want femicide to be recognised as a separate crime and for the European Commission to draw up guidelines for the implementation of the 2024 directive on violence against women (see EUROPE 13431/33).
In addition, while the issue had been debated during the negotiations on this text, the elected representatives want a definition of rape based on consent in European law and are calling on those Member States that have not yet done so to ratify the Istanbul Convention.
In the field of health, the adopted report supports the establishment of a comprehensive European framework to enable universal access to sexual and reproductive health, but also to reduce gender disparity in health matters.
MEPs also reaffirmed their desire to see the right to safe and legal abortion enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights, a recurring and favourite topic in the Chamber (see EUROPE 13389/15).
During a debate held the day before the vote, the urgency to act was invoked. For Marko Vešligaj, “there is no longer any question of hiding behind the argument of national competences, it is time to act and guarantee equality, security and freedom for all in the European Union”.
MEPs from the left to the centre-right, such as Carolina Morace (The Left, Italian) and Lucia Yar (Renew Europe, Slovakian), called for binding measures, especially on equal pay, reproductive health and the fight against violence. Meanwhile, their colleagues on the radical and conservative right denounced what they described as an ideological approach, as did Mathilde Androuët (PfE, French).
The European Commission’s executive vice-president, Roxana Mînzatu, said that the next strategy – expected for the next International Women’s Day, in March 2026 – should “transform legislation into concrete changes on the ground”.
See the text: https://aeur.eu/f/jf3 (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)