EU agrees first-ever law on violence against women. But rape is not included
The original draft of the bill, tabled by the European Commission in March 2022, defined the crime of rape as sex without consent – with no need for victims to provide evidence of force, threats or coercion. It was based on the "only yes means yes" concept that has taken root in many member states amid a scourge of sexual crimes against women and girls. But after months of painstaking negotiations, 14 member states continued to block the consent-based definition. They included Eastern states such as Bulgaria, Hungary and the Czech Republic, as well as France, Germany and the Netherlands, consi...