Analysis
Italy’s center-right blows up a bill against gender-based violence
It was a bipartisan measure sealed by a pact between PD Secretary Elly Schlein and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni herself. However, that pact has now collapsed.
To the more cynical-minded, the alliance between the parliamentary majority and the opposition against gender-based violence must have seemed odd from the start, if only because on the right, any issue even vaguely related to sexuality becomes triggering. And it turns out it was a sham after all.
The chaos in the Senate over the bill updating the definition of consent to “free and current consent” proved it. The fallout had at least one collateral victim: Minister for the Family Eugenia Roccella, who at that time was sitting in the Chamber of Deputies waiting for the unanimous vote on the law introducing the specific crime of femicide.
“We are making history; this is not a rhetorical expression, it is reality,” she had boasted in her speech at the start, convinced she had brought home a point for the government – thanks to the goodwill of the opposition – on a symbolic day, November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
The same was supposed to happen in the Senate, where the legislative process for reforming the crime of sexual violence was supposed to conclude. The reform introduces the principle of free and current consent and had already passed the lower chamber of parliament under the impetus of the joint rapporteurs, Michela De Biase from the PD and Carolina Varchi from FdI. It was a bipartisan measure sealed by a pact between PD Secretary Elly Schlein and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni herself. However, that pact has now collapsed. The center-left abandoned the proceedings in protest after the Lega – followed by FdI and Forza Italia – requested further in-depth review of the bill and hearings in the Senate Justice Committee, chaired by Giulia Bongiorno.
Senate President Ignazio La Russa, who in the morning had seemed optimistic that the law would pass, backtracked: “I have exercised all my prerogatives. If, according to their free evaluation, the committee decides they need to discuss, we will do so. Nothing changes if a few more days pass.” However, it might not be just a few days: the new norm on free and current consent is disliked by a conspicuous part of the majority, which holds a view on gender issues close to that of ultra-conservative Catholic groups. There is, therefore, a high risk that it will be definitively scuttled, even though Bongiorno assured: “We want to move forward. We will only make small improvements and the cycle of hearings will be focused and brief. I will not forget that this bill exists.”
Meanwhile, in the Chamber of Deputies, the discussion on the bill introducing the crime of femicide proceeded without hitches. The opposition members, wearing red ribbons, withdrew their amendments as per the Meloni-Schlein pact, with the exception of the Five Star Movement (M5S). Nonetheless, they stressed that merely toughening the punishment for the crime – without cultural work starting with sex and relationship education in schools and without funding for anti-violence centers – is largely decorative. Then the news arrived that the pact had collapsed in the Senate.
The PD’s Debora Serracchiani broke the news to the Chamber during her speech. She was followed by Italia Viva’s Maria Elena Boschi and Devis Dori of the AVS. They accused the center-right of a bait-and-switch, of having reneged on the agreement – thus effectively expressing no confidence in the Prime Minister herself – and asked for a suspension of the bill (which was denied; in the end, the text was approved out of a sense of “responsibility”). They demanded a halt “until the Minister clarifies the reasons why the majority is reneging on an agreement made by the government,” in the words of Democrat Chiara Braga. Roccella put up a wall of silence, which some read as embarrassment, others as complicity.
“The Minister’s behavior is surreal; she has put her head in the sand by remaining silent,” commented Elisabetta Piccolotti of AVS. The M5S called it a “shameful betrayal” and called for Roccella’s resignation. Schlein, leaving the Chamber, emphasized: “I am voting for the crime of femicide because a responsible force must respect the agreements made. I hope that Meloni does the same, after we reached an agreement on a text less than a week ago,” thus revealing she had previously spoken to the Prime Minister precisely to ensure the process would go forward. As for an explanation, “one should ask her,” the PD secretary added. “It would be a serious matter if this were an electoral settling of scores after the regional elections, at the expense of the victims.”
One can hardly believe that Meloni – who expressed satisfaction on social media only for the femicide bill, mentioning the “coming together of politics” – was unaware of the trap her majority had set up in the Senate. In the morning, the prime minister had given an interview to the LaPresse agency and, when listing the government’s measures against violence against women, had even mentioned the 5-kilometer run held last Sunday in Rome – but conspicuously failed to mention the revision of the principle of consent under discussion on Wednesday. She did take the time to reiterate some firm positions of the right she leads: “The family is the primary place for the education of children. The school is an ally.” As for the rejection of sex and relationship education in schools, replaced with education “on respect” subject to parental consent, Meloni said that was “right” because it prevents “the spread of gender theories.”
Originally published at https://ilmanifesto.it/il-centrodestra-sabota-il-ddl-sul-consenso on 2025-11-26