Overview
- MEPs approved the initiative Tuesday with 447 votes to 160, calling for rape to be defined as sex without clear consent.
- The push faces a legal hurdle under Article 83 of the EU treaties, which limits EU criminal law to certain cross-border crimes and helped derail a similar effort in 2024.
- Laws vary across the bloc, with Sweden, Spain, France, Denmark, Italy and Belgium using consent-based rules, Germany applying a “No means no” standard, and some states still requiring proof of violence.
- Parliament says silence or lack of resistance should not count as consent and cites trauma reactions like freezing, which can leave victims unable to speak or fight back.
- The Commission must respond within three months and could table a draft for governments to negotiate, while the vote already intensifies pressure for national reforms now under debate in Germany and elsewhere.