To the Senate

Rape decree, Bongiorno changes the text: the word 'consent' disappears

The text was approved, with the Meloni-Schlein agreement, in the House with unanimity

by Rome Editorial Staff

22 January 2026

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Key points

What has been changed
Bongiorno: 'Legislation puts women's protection at centre stage'
The Wrath of Oppositions

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Translated by AI

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A reformulation that has sparked controversy. The text of the bill on new regulations on sexual violence was amended at the behest of the chairwoman of the Senate Justice Committee, Giulia Bongiorno, raising criticism from the opposition parties.

What has been changed

It should be specified that the changes came during its passage through the Senate Commission, after the text had been unanimously approved in the House (with the agreement between PM Meloni and PD secretary Schlein). "The sexual act," reads the new text, "is contrary to the person's will even when it is committed by surprise or taking advantage of the person's inability, in the circumstances of the specific case, to express his or her dissent.

A way of overcoming the discontent of some members of the centre-right, according to whom the formula 'free and current consent' was too vague and, therefore, subject to too many interpretations.

Bongiorno: 'Rule puts women's protection at the centre'

The League senator vindicated the choice by explaining that the new rule 'puts the protection of women at the centre, emphasising that any act against the consent of the victim is sexual violence. This decisively overcomes the obsolete structure of the current rule that conditions punishability to positive conduct of violence, threat or abuse of authority by the perpetrator'. Therefore, according to Bongiorno, 'the protection of the victim is all-round, because the rule - and this too is an important innovation - punishes sexual violence even when the person has found himself unable to express consent or dissent because he was taken by surprise or could not react, paralysed by fear or embarrassment'.

The ire of the oppositions

"President Bongiorno's proposal represents a step backwards" according to the group leaders of the House and Senate, Chiara Braga and Francesco Boccia, "not only with respect to the agreement between Schlein and Meloni that had led to the approval of the text on consensus in the House and with respect to Bongiorno's own statements, but also with respect to the current jurisprudence and therefore risks representing a dangerous choice".

Then, the note from all the oppositions, with the group leaders in the Senate Patuanelli (M5s), passing through Paita (Iv), De Cristofaro (Avs) and Lombardo (Azione) who denounced the breaking of the pact with Meloni: 'In Montecitorio a high and shared result had been achieved, built on the transversal unity of women and on a simple, clear, universal principle: only yes is yes.

The proposal made today, 22 January, by President Bongiorno cancels that commitment made directly by Prime Minister Meloni, represents a very serious setback with respect to that goal, with respect to the word given by the government and with respect to an achievement that had united Parliament and the country. Will is not consensus. Blurring this distinction means hurting and weakening the protection of women and betraying the spirit of that agreement'.

For the secretary of Più Europa, Riccardo Magi, it is 'a downward agreement with the most retrograde fringes of the centre-right government. It is a pity that a jurist such as lawyer Bongiorno, who professionally and personally has spent herself on this issue, has sacrificed for political logic a good text, such as the previous one, which went in the direction of the normative solutions adopted by many European countries, in line with the Istanbul Convention, placing consent at the centre".