Last chance to tackle violence against women before the European elections, warn S&Ds
Date
04 Apr 2019
Sections
Justice & Home Affairs
After two years of unsuccessful negotiations for the EU's ratification of the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, the S&D Group pushed today in the European Parliament’s plenary for a resolution seeking an opinion from the Court of Justice.
Christine Revault d'Allonnes-Bonnefoy, S&D negotiator for the civil liberties committee, said:
“Violence against women remains at unacceptably high levels across the EU, but some member states still continue to refuse the EU ratification process. It is a shame, as it would provide a coherent legal framework to better protect and support victims of gender-based violence in the EU. We cannot accept such a situation; this is why the European Parliament took the lead today by asking the Court of Justice for its opinion on all the current legal issues raised by the Council, which in our view, are only excuses for not defending women's rights.”
Iratxe García Pérez, S&D negotiator for the women’s rights committee, stated:
“We Socialists and Democrats do not tolerate violence against women. Millions of women suffer in Europe every single day. We observe today in some member states a backlash on women's rights and fierce opposition to the ratification of the Istanbul Convention. It is our last chance before the end of this mandate of the European Parliament to have a say, and to put pressure to keep the issue going in a progressive direction.”
Note to the editors:
The EU signed the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention) in June 2017. Unfortunately, no progress has been made so far by the Commission and the Council for the ratification. This is why the European Parliament voted with a broad majority today on a resolution on seeking an opinion from the Court of Justice to decide whether the accession to the Istanbul Convention as proposed by the Council is compatible with the Treaties. The request would like to unlock the current legal issues faced by the Commission and the Council by asking the ECJ a legal opinion on the legal base chosen, which we consider as inappropriate and unjustified.