The EU is expected to formally ratify the Istanbul Convention on Thursday despite its rejection by a number of member states, including Czechia.
As EURACTIV.cz reported previously, Czechia is mulling ratifying the convention in the future but wants to abstain from Thursday’s vote. For many years, the convention was a target of disinformation campaigns, and many politicians were convinced that ratification was useless.
Along with Czechia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, Latvia, and Lithuania have not ratified the convention on a national level, it is possible that they may not vote for it at the EU level.
Still, as the EU Court of Justice confirmed, the EU as a whole can ratify the convention without the consent of all member states, as the qualified majority is sufficient.
The EU ambassadors already approved the document on 24 May, under the lead of the Swedish Council of the EU Presidency. EU ministers should officially confirm the approval during today’s Council of the EU.
“The EU’s accession to the Istanbul convention is a strong sign of our commitment to end violence against women and domestic violence,” the Swedish presidency informed.
However, the EU’s full accession to the convention does not exempt the remaining member states from ratifying it themselves. It would mean that the convention’s content would be enforceable in areas of EU competence.
On the other hand, ratifying the treaty seems impossible in the current Slovak parliament, composed of mostly conservative MPs. The convention was a topic before the 2020 election when the parliament demonstratively refused to give its consent for ratification with a large majority.
Snap parliamentary elections in September could bring about change or further cement the country’s anti-minority rights track record.
No change is expected in Bulgaria either, where topic is not on the political agenda, and the future ruling coalition between Boyko Borissov’s party – GERB and the leading formation in the future government “Change Continues – Democratic Bulgaria” may not be in a hurry to raise the issue because the image of the convention was ruined with a disinformation campaign four years ago.
The convention has also become a target of slander in Latvia. Recently, on 18 May, Latvia’s parliament rejected taking it into parliamentary review.
“I believe it is connected to lots of misperceptions and very local and domestic type of propaganda which is used among parties in their own internal fights,” Latvian MEP Nils Ušakovs (S&D) told EURACTIV.
Amongst the false information is a rumour that countries who are ratifying the convention are aiming to change the definition of family.
A similar situation occurred in Lithuania, where the parliament has not ratified the convention. It was on the agenda in 2018, but only heated discussions with no results have taken place since then.
In 2020, Hungarian parliament voted to reject the ratification, and a change of attitude is highly unlikely.
(Aneta Zachová | EURACTIV.cz, Max Griera | EURACTIV.com, Krassen Nikolov | EURACTIV.bg, Barbara Zmušková | EURACTIV.sk)
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