Macron vows to integrate 'consent' into French legislation on sexual assault

President Emmanuel Macron has said he is in favour of adding the notion of "consent" to French law defining rape, the wording of which has been a subject of heated debate across France. 

A woman holds a banner that reads: 'Rape Culture' during a demonstration in Lyon, central France. AP - Laurent Cipriani

The legal definition of rape in France includes the notions of "violence, coercion, threat or surprise", but makes no mention of "consent".

Women's rights advocates have called for the law to be tightened by including the concept so that all sex without consent is rape, adding that only a tiny fraction of rapes or attempted rapes lead to a conviction.

• EU agrees first law on violence against women, fails to find consensus on rape

On 8 March, Macron told a women's rights group: "I totally understand that consent should be enshrined" in the law. 

"I will inscribe it in French law," he added in a video filmed by women's rights group's Choisir - La Cause des Femmes (Choose - The Women's Cause), a full version of which seen by French media on Wednesday.

A group of lawmakers is working on a report on whether to add consent to the law that they are to present mid-April.

"It's good news for women's rights," one of them, Greens lawmaker Marie-Charlotte Garin, said after Macron's remarks.

Le Président @EmmanuelMacron dit OUI pour inscrire le #consentement dans la loi !

Ça tombe très bien : à l'Assemblée, nous travaillons sur le sujet depuis plusieurs mois avec @V_Riotton, plus de 50 personnes auditionnées.

0,6% des viols sont condamnés : l'impunité doit cesser. pic.twitter.com/0ludUn1BkU

— Marie-Charlotte Garin (@MC_Garin) March 12, 2024

France rejects 'consent' in EU legislation

However, France was one of several countries to argue against including a consent-based definition of rape in an EU law passed last month.

The states in opposition argued that rape does not have the cross-border dimension necessary for it to be considered a crime that comes with common penalties across the European Union.

Macron is filmed in the video saying that he did not believe rape was a "eurocrime", but did want to change French law.

• France makes abortion constitution right as world fetes Women's Day

Constitutional amendment

In 2023, the president promised to have the freedom to resort to an abortion added to France's constitution after the US Supreme court overturned the half-century-old nationwide right to the procedure in 2022.

Earlier this month, French parliament gave a green light to the constitutional amendment in a historic vote, making France the first country to clearly give the right such protection in its basic law.

Macron has now pledged to enshrine the right in Europe's basic law.

Last year, Spain approved a new legislation, dubbed the "Only yes means yes" law, under which all non-consensual sex is rape.

Sweden, Greece, Denmark and Finland have also passed similar laws.