In the European Union there is no single definition of rape and sexual violence. Each member state has its own and punishes this crime differently. But the European Parliament is insistently asking the Commission to propose a regulation that introduces a common definition of rape based on the absence of “freely given, informed and revocable” consent, overcoming national rules still based on violence or threat, and harmonize standards across the Union.
The latest request is contained in a report approved by the Civil Liberties and Women’s Rights committees with 75 votes in favour, 27 against and 3 abstentions and which should end up being voted on in the Chamber next month. MEPs invite Member States that still base the definition of rape on the presence of violence and coercion to align themselves with international standards, in particular with the Istanbul Convention, ratified by the EU in 2023. The latter, in Article 36, requires the criminalization of any non-consensual sexual act and specifies that consent must be given “voluntarily, as a result of the person’s free will, assessed in the context of the circumstances”.
Parliament’s request
Parliament is also calling for future legislation to complement the 2024 directive on violence against women, already in force, which introduced common standards on prevention, protection and support for victims but not a European definition of rape. Other measures requested include 24-hour crisis centers, specialized medical and psychological care, access to sexual and reproductive health, including safe and legal abortion, mandatory training for law enforcement and magistrates, campaigns against stereotypes and online misogynistic propaganda.
“It is unacceptable that in 2026, in some parts of the EU, women are still not protected by consent-based rape laws. ‘Yes means yes’ and must have the same meaning in all Member States, and women and girls deserve the same protection, regardless of where they live,” said rapporteur Evin Incir, a Swedish socialist.
The knot of consensus
The heart of the House’s proposal is that rape must be defined as any sexual act performed without the person’s voluntary consent. The traditional approach, based on violence or threats, was considered seriously lacking in light of new knowledge about victims’ reactions.
This is because many victims react not with physical resistance but with a form of paralysis known as “fright freezing” or “tonic immobility.” Demanding proof of violence or active opposition therefore risks leaving numerous cases of aggression unpunished. The European Court of Human Rights has said that “any rigid approach” that always requires proof of physical resistance may compromise the protection of sexual autonomy.
It’s not enough that the woman doesn’t react, it’s not enough that she doesn’t say “no” or that she remains still without objecting to say that she is consenting: she needs to want to have sex. And if the man continues the act in the presence of obvious discomfort, with the woman crying or in a condition that prevents a free choice, such as a case of extreme drunkenness or if she is under the influence of substances that totally alter her senses, we speak of sex without consent, even in the absence of violence or threats.
Italy: consensus in jurisprudence, not in the code
In Italy, article 609-bis of the penal code defines sexual violence as an act carried out “with violence or threats or through abuse of authority”. The text does not mention consent explicitly. However, over the years, Italian jurisprudence has consistently affirmed the need to ascertain the absence of consent as an essential element of the crime.
To remedy the legislative void in the Chamber, in November 2025, an amendment to the penal code was approved, the result of an agreement between Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the secretary of the Democratic Party, which introduces the term “without free and current consent” into the crime of sexual violence as a sufficient element to constitute rape, establishing penalties of six to twelve years of imprisonment for anyone who carries out sexual acts without explicit consent.
However, the parliamentary process became complicated: the Senate vote was postponed several times, driven by requests for further hearings and objections raised by the League and other parties on the wording of the text and on specifics such as the distinction between “consensus” and “dissent”.
Countries that have adopted the consensus model
A study ofEuropean Parliamentary Research Service “Definitions of rape in the legislation of EU member states” reports that, out of 27 member states, 17 now provide for the absence of consent as a constitutive element of the crime of rape or a broader category of sexual assault. These include Belgium, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Greece, Croatia, Ireland, Luxembourg and others.
Some countries have chosen a “yes means yes” model, in which consent must be expressed positively and freely. Others, such as Germany and Austria, have adopted a “no means no” model, focusing on the recognizability of dissent. Under German law, for example, sexual violence is punishable when the other person does not participate voluntarily, i.e. when there is no free will to give consent.
In Belgium, a 2022 reform defined consent as given “freely” and assessed in light of the circumstances, specifying that it cannot be inferred from simple silence or lack of resistance, can be withdrawn at any time and does not exist at all if the person is incapable of deciding due to circumstances such as fear, inability to react, influence of substances or similar
States still tied to force
In addition to Italy, three other states parties to the Istanbul Convention (Estonia, Latvia and Romania) have not yet changed the legal definition in a fully consensual sense. In these systems there remains a central reference to violence, threat or inability to resist, despite jurisprudential interpretations that valorise the will of the victim.
But according to Grevio (Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence), the independent body of the Council of Europe that monitors the implementation of the Istanbul Convention, maintaining force-based definitions can lead to high evidentiary thresholds and risks of secondary victimization.
The regulatory and political context
Parliament’s request to unify community legislation is part of a process that began with the Commission’s 2022 proposal for a directive on violence against women. In Union law, criminal matters remain the responsibility of the Member States and the EU can intervene only in the cases expressly provided for by the Treaties: terrorism, trafficking in human beings, sexual exploitation of women and minors, drug trafficking, organized crime and a few others. Rape, as an independent case, is not mentioned, but the Commission had argued that it could fall into the category of “sexual exploitation of women”, and therefore it was possible to introduce a common definition.
The Council instead eliminated the rule by adopting a more restrictive interpretation. “Much has changed since the Council opposed the inclusion of a definition of rape based on consent in the Violence Against Women Directive. Since then, the case of Gisèle Pelicot has shocked the whole world. Her courage in reporting the violence she suffered has opened the eyes of even the most conservative opponents of this change”, argued the Polish socialist MEP Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus, according to whom “we have an obligation to build on this momentum, not tomorrow, but now”.
