Overview
- The European Commission, which announced the move Wednesday, said it will not propose an EU-wide ban and will instead urge countries to pass their own laws in a 2027 recommendation.
- Brussels said it lacks legal authority for a binding ban and noted that adding the practice to the EU crimes list would require unanimous support from governments.
- A citizens’ petition that gathered more than one million signatures pressed for a binding EU law, prompting the Commission’s formal response.
- Protections vary across the bloc, with AFP listing eight countries that already ban the practice and ILGA-Europe counting 10 with full or partial prohibitions.
- Rights bodies describe the practices as harmful, with the EU’s rights agency finding in 2024 that one in four LGBTQ+ people surveyed had faced them and the UN calling for a global ban.