The European Parliament will hold a press briefing in Strasbourg next week on its call for a consent-based definition of rape in EU law, ahead of a plenary debate and vote on the issue.
The European Parliament will brief journalists next week on its call for a consent-based definition of rape in EU law, in a renewed attempt to place the absence of consent at the centre of proceedings across member states.
The press conference is scheduled for Tuesday 28 April at 17.00 CEST in Strasbourg. It will be led by rapporteurs Evin Incir and Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus, who are responsible for Parliament’s report on the issue. The text is due to be debated in plenary on Monday afternoon and voted on Tuesday.
The report builds on Parliament’s existing position that lack of consent should be the central element in rape proceedings. It calls for EU-level legislation to complement the 2024 directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence. That directive introduced EU rules on several forms of violence against women, including female genital mutilation, forced marriage, cyber violence and improved victim support, but it did not include a common EU definition of rape.
The omission followed disagreement among member states over the EU’s competence to legislate in this area. Criminal law remains largely national, although Article 83 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union allows the bloc to establish minimum rules in defined areas of particularly serious cross-border crime. Parliament has repeatedly argued that gender-based violence should be added to that list.
The Strasbourg debate will therefore concern both criminal-law substance and EU competence. The question is not only whether member states should define rape by reference to consent, but whether the EU should have authority to set a common minimum standard. Supporters of EU-level legislation argue that divergent national definitions create unequal protection and legal uncertainty. Critics are likely to focus on subsidiarity, national criminal-law traditions and the limits of EU law.
The weekly agenda for the Strasbourg session lists the “Importance of consent-based rape legislation in the EU” for debate on Monday 27 April, with the vote scheduled for Tuesday 28 April. The file is being handled jointly by Parliament’s civil liberties and women’s rights committees.
The report also advocates stronger victim support across member states, including access to justice, specialised services and healthcare. It refers to alignment with international standards and addresses digital violence and harmful stereotypes. These elements place the proposal within a wider legal and policy debate on how criminal justice systems handle sexual violence cases.
The result of the vote will not itself create a binding EU-wide offence. Parliament’s position will instead add political weight to calls for further legislation. Any binding change would require a Commission proposal and agreement by member states and the Parliament under the relevant treaty basis. If the matter were pursued through Article 83, it would also require political agreement on adding gender-based violence to the EU crimes framework.
The debate may therefore expose the same institutional divide that shaped the earlier negotiations: Parliament pressing for a common consent-based standard, while some governments remain cautious about extending EU competence in criminal law.
The issue is also likely to remain linked to broader EU policy on victim protection and access to justice. Even where national laws already include consent-based definitions, implementation, evidentiary standards, reporting procedures and support services vary across member states. A common definition would not by itself resolve those differences, but it would create a more uniform legal baseline.
Next week’s Strasbourg vote will indicate whether there is still a clear parliamentary majority for that approach. It will also show how firmly MEPs intend to keep the issue on the EU agenda after the adoption of the 2024 directive.
For now, the main development is procedural but significant: Parliament is preparing to reopen the legislative argument over whether rape should be defined in EU law by the absence of consent, and whether member states should be required to meet that standard.
