Roughly half of women in the European Union report experiencing sexual harassment since age 15, according to the European Council. In response, the EU has taken a series of measures to strengthen prevention and victim support: it ratified the Istanbul Convention on October 1, 2023; adopted a 2024 directive criminalizing workplace sexual harassment, cyberstalking and the non-consensual sharing of intimate images; and included cyberviolence and deepfakes among priorities in its Gender Equality Strategy. Member states also channel hundreds of millions of euros each year into prevention and services for survivors.
Despite these steps, EU countries have differed for years on a common criminal-law definition of rape. A cross-party initiative in the European Parliament pushed the European Commission to harmonize rape legislation so that all member states base their laws on consent. The initiative’s sponsors argued the determining factor should be the absence of freely given consent, not evidence that a victim resisted or suffered physical injury.
On April 28, 2026, the European Parliament approved the proposal by a large majority: 447 votes in favor and 160 against. The text calls for EU rules to align with international standards and for stronger, more consistent support for victims across member states, including better access to justice, specialized services and healthcare.
Across Europe, national criminal-law approaches to rape fall into three broad models. One model criminalizes rape only when physical force is used or threatened. A second, often described as “no means no,” treats rape as occurring when an act is carried out against a person’s recognizable refusal or expressed unwillingness; this approach is followed in countries such as Germany, Austria and Poland. The third model—“only yes means yes”—defines any sexual activity without explicit, voluntary consent as rape. That consent-based approach originated in Sweden and has been adopted by several EU countries, including Belgium, Denmark, Croatia, Greece, Spain and the Netherlands; France moved to this standard in November 2025, and other states such as the Czech Republic are debating similar reforms.
Prosecution and conviction rates for rape remain low across the continent. Many assaults go unreported, prosecutions often rest on conflicting testimony, and conclusive forensic evidence can be difficult to obtain. Some estimates place the proportion of perpetrators who are convicted at only a low single-digit share. Sweden, which introduced the “only yes means yes” standard in 2018, has recorded a notable increase in convictions; observers attribute part of that rise to an accompanying provision that criminalizes grossly negligent rape, allowing conviction where a perpetrator failed to ensure their partner’s voluntary participation. Human-rights organizations such as Amnesty International view the shift toward consent-based laws as an important legal and cultural step, while noting that proving rape in court continues to be challenging and that conviction rates overall remain low.
A prior attempt in 2024 to set a Europe-wide consent standard stalled amid disagreement over legal competence. Criminal law is traditionally a core national competence, and some member states argued the EU lacked authority to impose a uniform criminal definition because rape is not listed in EU treaties as a cross-border criminal matter. At that time France and Germany expressed concerns that a directive might overreach and be vulnerable to legal challenge. Since then national positions have shifted: France adopted consent-based changes domestically, and Italy is advancing comparable legislation. The Parliament’s 2026 approval represents a renewed, cross-party push for EU-wide adoption of consent-based definitions and improved victim support, and it aims to spur more uniform protection for survivors across the bloc.