Italy's Senate delays vote on consent in sexual violence law until 2026

Italy's Senate will not vote on legislation introducing the concept of consent into sexual violence law before February 2026, derailing a bill that had received unanimous approval in the Chamber of Deputies just one week ago.

Giulia Bongiorno, president of the Senate Justice Commission, told Corriere della Sera newspaper on Wednesday that the bill would be ready in committee by January, but the Senate vote has been postponed after the League requested new hearings and a re-examination of the text.

The Lega party raised concerns about a paragraph regulating cases of "minor gravity", requesting clarification on the concept. Forza Italia and Brothers of Italy (FdI) backed the request, scuttling Tuesday's scheduled vote on International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

The bill resulted from an agreement between Democratic Party (PD) leader Elly Schlein and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of FdI and passed the Chamber unanimously last week.

From unanimity to a clash

The postponement triggered sharp criticism from opposition parties, which accused the ruling coalition of sabotaging the legislation one day after regional elections that saw the centre-left win in Campania and Puglia and the centre-right prevail in Veneto.

"I heard Giorgia Meloni and asked her to enforce the agreements," Schlein said after the vote was postponed. "The text was unanimously approved less than a week ago. Now it would be serious if, on the skin of women, post-electoral showdowns were held within the majority."

Maria Elena Boschi, opposition Italia Viva party's group leader in the Chamber of Deputies, accused the majority of reversing course, stating, "We no longer trust them."

Meloni defended the delay, saying the law "must be done right, not in haste" and denying any political agreement to rush the vote. "It is not something I can decide, it is a law of parliamentary initiative, not governmental," she told Corriere della Sera.

Bongiorno rejected claims of delays, stating: "It is true that there was an agreement between Schlein and Meloni, but not in the detail, of the single paragraph, or that the rule should pass on the 25th."

The bill has sparked debate beyond parliamentary procedure. Criminal lawyer Enrico Amati warned the combination of consent requirements and the broad category of "sexual acts" risks reversing the burden of proof onto defendants, a concern echoed by Equal Opportunities Minister Eugenia Roccella.

Fabio Roia, president of Milan's Court who has worked on gender violence cases for decades, rejected the claim, saying it is "absolutely not true that introducing the concept of free consent constitutes a reversal of the burden of proof."

How does Europe fare on femicide?

In a joint statement, European Commission Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu, Equality Commissioner Hadja Lahbib and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas reaffirmed the bloc's commitment to ending violence against women.

They noted their Roadmap for Women's Rights places "freedom from gender-based violence" as the first principle and will prioritise it in the Gender Equality Strategy 2026-2030.

The Council of Europe's Istanbul Convention, approved in April 2011 and signed by 45 countries, defines violence against women as a human rights violation and discrimination. The EU ratified the convention in June 2023.

The convention established crimes including stalking, sexual and physical violence, forced marriage and forced abortion, recommending signatory countries include them in their criminal frameworks.

The EU's first legislation against violence against women, adopted in 2024, excluded consent from the definition of rape after opposition from several member states, including France and Germany. The European Commission's original 2022 draft had defined rape as "non-consensual sex".

France included consent as a key element in the criminal definition of rape in October after the Gisèle Pelicot case, in which a woman was drugged by her husband and sexually abused by dozens of men while unconscious.

Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, Canada and Norway have previously introduced consent-based definitions to strengthen protections for sexual abuse victims.