Emmanuel Macron expressed his intention to include the notion of consent in matters of rape in French law, in a filmed exchange with the feminist association Choisir la cause des femmes. “I am going to include it in French law,” declared the Head of State, questioned on this question by Violaine Lucas, the president of the association, on March 8, on the sidelines of the International Day of Human Rights. women.
“That we integrate it into French law, that consent can be registered, I completely understand that,” he added, in this exchange broadcast on Instagram including Agence France-Presse ( AFP) was able to see the entire thing on Wednesday March 13, and was able to confirm the authenticity. Questioned by AFP, the Elysée did not wish to comment.
In December 2023, France was nevertheless one of the member states which opposed a community definition of rape at European level, based on the notion of consent. In its initial project, presented on March 8, 2022, the European Commission proposed, in Article 5 of a directive on violence against women, that a “crime of rape” be “characterized” as soon as the victim n 'did not consent to the sexual act'.
But ten member states, first and foremost France, Germany and the Netherlands, but also Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, had expressed their opposition. And the European Union had finally given up on a community definition of rape based on the notion of consent.
" Good news "
Currently, article 222-23 of the penal code defines rape as “any act of sexual penetration, of whatever nature, or any oral-genital act committed on the person of another or on the person of the perpetrator by violence, coercion, threat or surprise”.
The notion of consent, which resurfaced in the 2010s with the shock wave
“If he does it’s good news,” Violaine Lucas responded to AFP. “This will allow us to deepen what Gisèle Halimi began to do in 1978 during the Aix-en-Provence trial”, in reference to the emblematic trial which contributed to having rape recognized by law as a crime.
