On Tuesday, the European Parliament and officials announced that the bloc had reached an agreement on the law that aims to protect women in the 27-nation European Union from gender-based violence. 

The legislation will also criminalise cyberstalking, cyberharassment and cyber incitement to hatred or violence across the European Union.

The agreement comes almost two years after The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, first proposed the law to mark International Women’s Day 2022. 

EU lawmaker Frances Fitzgerald told reporters in Strasbourg after the announcement that the agreement sends “a clear message across the union that we take violence against women seriously.”

Posting images from her meetings in the northeastern city of France, the former Irish senator wrote on Instagram: “It takes a great team, hours of hard work and determination to get any deal over the line.”

“Thank you to all those who played their part in securing agreement on a new landmark Directive to combat Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence. This is a good day for the women and men of Europe.”

Swedish socialist MEP and fellow EU lawmaker, Evin Incir said the agreement is “a directive that the women and girls all across the European Union have asked for for over 30 years.”

Fitzgerald and Incir have been the key players in leading the process to introduce EU-wide laws to tackle violence against women. Last October, Fitzgerald expressed her dismay at the lack of urgency from governments to tackle gendered violence across Europe.

“The seriousness of the crime is still internationally not being matched by the intensity of the approaches needed, and this is a symptom of that,” she said at the time. 

“A city the size of Marseilles, Amsterdam or Zagreb disappears every 10 years as 858,000 women are murdered globally. So I can’t help but think it is part of misogyny, and it’s part of a patriarchal society that we live in, that we’ve had such a job getting (crimes against women) to the top of the agenda.”

Earlier this morning, the Vice-President for Values and Transparency at the European Commission, Vera Jourova, wrote on X, “For the first time ever, we criminalise widespread forms of cyberviolence, such as non-consensual sharing of intimate images.” 

“Way too many #women still suffer domestic violence or violence online in the EU.” 

She also posted a video, saying “Today is a very important day because just a few minutes ago we finalised the trilogue on the violence against women directive.”

“Why we needed a legally binding rules against violence against women. Because simply, as I sometimes say, Europe is a good address for women, but not for all.”

“Many women are suffering from violence and we need to stop this horrible practise and the perpetrators have to be punished and the society also have to take a stronger stance against the violence.”

“So that’s why this directive, which is historically the first one which covers and which seeks to combat violence against women, should cause the big difference we have for the first time addressing addressed cyber violence, we have addressed also the non consensual distribution of in images, all these horrible things which see lately, together with the technological development. So now we have the directive, we will have to finalise the process and after some time when the directive will be implemented into the national laws, we will, I hope, see the difference.”

“The European women and girls need and deserve much stronger and better protection.”

Under the agreement made this week, the commission will report every five years on any potential changes to the rule that need to be made. 

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A post shared by Frances Fitzgerald MEP (@frances_fitzgerald_mep)

Defining ‘rape’ disagreement 

EU member states and lawmakers have not included a common definition of rape in the law, as countries remain divided on how to define the crime. 

In a statement, the parliament said member states will seek to improve awareness that non-consensual sex is considered a criminal offence. 

Countries including Belgium, Greece, Italy, Spain and Sweden sought to include a definition of rape in the law, but faced knock back from countries including France, Germany and Hungary — who argued that the EU was not equip to do so and that rape lacks the cross-border dimension for it to be assessed as a crime with common penalties in the bloc.

This argument was strongly refuted by the parliament and the commission who challenged that rape could fall within the definition of “sexual exploitation of women” for which a joint set of penalties already exists. 

“We could not get consent-based definition of rape into this directive. So that is a very big disappointment,” Fitzgerald said on Tuesday.

Last month, various international rights organisations criticised the countries who refused to define rape in the law. 

“It is utterly unacceptable that some member states are stubbornly unresponsive to the need to combat rape across the EU,” an open letter from eleven organisations including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Center for Reproductive Rights expressed. 

“Consent-based definitions have proven to guarantee greater protection and access to justice for women and other victims of rape, including increased reporting and prosecution rates.” 

“We urge governments to act in accordance with their international and regional human rights obligations, particularly under the Istanbul Convention, and agree on the most robust Directive possible to prevent, prosecute and redress violence against women.”

Last October, Fitzgerald said the hesitation towards introducing an EU-wide consent-based definition of rape was “not acceptable”.

“There isn’t enough political motivation at the moment from some member states to include rape,” Fitzgerald said at the time. 

“You can get somebody moved from Ireland to Germany for murder, but when it comes to rape, they’re saying ‘No, let the member states deal with that’. They don’t say ‘it’s because we don’t like the definition’.”

“They don’t say ‘it’s because what are you talking about with consent?’ which is the belief of certain member states, they really find it hard to get their heads around the idea of consent.”

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Speaking at the Council of Europe summit in Reykjavik, von der Leyen told leaders from across the continent that they should support Ukraine’s peace formula, declaring that “as Russia rages war against democracy itself, Europe is united in standing up for Ukraine.” 

“Today, war is back in Europe. But for many Ukrainians, this conflict already began 10 years ago,” said von der Leyen. 

 “Ukraine is fighting for the values we [the EU Commission] believe in and that we hold so dearly.”

“The Ukrainian people are demanding accountability for Russia’s war crimes– the shelling of civilian homes, the executions in cold blood, the abduction of children from their families.”

“This is what the summit of Iceland should focus on,” said von der Leyen. “This is why we are here to discuss these topics. It is important for Ukrainians today because the prospect of accountability can already deter Russian soldiers from committing new war crimes. But it is also important for the future because only justice can be the foundation for lasting peace in Ukraine.”

Von der Leyen also said the EU Commission will do everything possible to support Ukraine but will do “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine”, meaning Ukraine’s own peace formula should be at the centre of action. 

“The Ukrainian peace formula is the foundation of their path towards peace, and that is why I call on us at this summit to really rally behind this peace formula,” said von der Leyen.

“In these testing times, it is so important that we all join forces. The Ukrainians are fighting for democracy and freedom. It is our common fight and we stand by their side for as long as it takes. Slava Ukraine. Long live Europe.”

Ursula von der Leyen

Ahead of the EU summit, Von der Leyen had also said leaders would decide on setting up “a register of damage” for Russia’s compensation to Ukraine in the international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague. 

The commission promised as well to help create an international centre to store evidence on Russia’s war crimes, which would be set up in The Hague and operational from July.

The ICC doesn’t have the power to try crimes of aggression, as Russia hasn’t ratified the ICC treaty. However, there has been an arrest warrant for Putin and other senior officials over the abduction of Ukrainian children. 

Last March, Russia was expelled from the Council of Europe after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and calls for a special tribunal to try Vladimir Putin and his top officials for the crime of aggression have been ongoing by the European Commission and several member states. 

Last year, the EU commission put out two options to do so— either creating an international tribunal based on a multilateral treaty or a special hybrid court integrated into a national justice system with international judges. 

EU officials think both of these options would require UN support.

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It’s a bold mission, and one that’s already brought her plenty of criticism from some claiming it’s too ambitious. But she describes climate action passionately — as she has in previous speeches, including when she announced the 1 trillian euro ‘Green Deal’ in January 2020 — declaring that the mission to dramatically cut greenhouse gas emissions is a “generational task”, that is about securing the wellbeing and freedom of our children. She said there is no greater or nobler agenda right now.

“We can choose a better, healthier, more prosperous way of living,” von der Leyen said in Brussels.

“Change on this scale is never easy, even when it’s necessary. For that reason there are some who will say we should go slower, we should go lower, we should do less. But when it comes to climate change doing less, or doing nothing, literally means changing everything.

“This is about securing the wellbeing not only of our generation but also of our children and of our grandchildren.”

She said Europe is the first continent to present a comprehensive architecture for meeting its climate ambitions. “We have the goal but now we present the roadmap for how we’re going to get there.”

“It will combine emission reduction with measures aimed at preserving nature, and putting jobs and social balance at the heart of the transformation.”

The plan unveiled, which would involve dozens of pieces of legislation, would put the EU well ahead of the rest of the world, including Australia. Australia is internationally renowned for being a laggard on climate action, which recently came in dead last on a United Nations assessment of how member states are addressing climate change.

Indeed, the plan could be problematic for Australia, with von der Leyen announcing that foreign importers of goods including steel, and aluminum will face higher taxes at the European border. “Carbon has to have a price everywhere,” she said.

von der Leyen said the plan will cost more than 500 billion Eurus at the European Union level. There then be significant funding from national budgets, as well as major incentives to the private sector that they believe will help.

The overarching plan includes strengthening the EU’s existing Emission Trading System, and making it applicable to aviation and maritime — on the latter, von der Leyen signaled out the cruising industry, noting that one cruise ship alone uses as much Co2 per day as 80,000 cars.

From there, von der Leyen declared the EU will build a second emission trading scheme that covers buildings and road transport.

With all this, von der Leyen also noted the social implications, and the need to ward off energy poverty. She announced a “Social Climate Fund” offering income support, investments to tackle energy poverty and help alleviate any financial pressures on small businesses and vulnerable households.

von der Leyen highlighted recent catastrophic weather events to highlight how urgent the situation is.

We must act now, while we still have policy choices.

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With the “transformation ahead” described as “unprecedented”, Von der Leyen said the investment plan will be created to work for everyone.

“We will support our people and our regions that need to make bigger efforts in this transformation, to make sure that we leave no one behind,” she said.

“And it will only work if it is just – and if it works for all.”

Ursula von der Leyen has just started as president of the European Commission. She was born in Brussels, has seven children and trained as a gynaecologist before entering politics. She is the first woman in the job, and the first German in more than 50 years.

The Green Deal’s key ambitions come as the EU has already increased its 2030 emissions reductions targets to between 50% and 55% when compared with 1990 levels — although not all member states have agreed to the current timetable.

Pushing to leave “no one behind” (with countries like Poland still heavily reliant on coal) Von der Leyen has also announced €100 million Just Transition Fund as part of the budget, which would aim to allocate funding to regions that need more support in the transition.

Von der Leyen says the deal will be funded through a mix of investments from member state and private sector contributions.

While the plan has already won the support of the EU parliament, its implementation relies on further EU legislation amendments.

The move follows a similar promise by Jacinda Ardern in recent months, who has committed New Zealand to be carbon neutral by 2050, declaring that it will put the country on the “right side of history”.

“We’re here because our world is warming. Undeniably it is warming. We have to start moving beyond targets. We have to start moving beyond aspirations,” she said in November.

The #EUGreenDeal comes with important investment needs, which we will turn into investment opportunities. The plan that we present today, to mobilise at least €1 trillion, will show the direction and unleash a green investment wave. pic.twitter.com/4FXTxGujdQ

— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) January 14, 2020

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