Legislation stalls after coalition ally says measure would ‘clog up the courts’ and fuel personal vendettas
Italy’s parliament has delayed a debate over a landmark law that would define sex without consent as rape amid a rift within the ruling coalition.
The measure, the result of a rare pact between the far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, and her main political opponent, the centre-left leader, Elly Schlein, passed in the lower house last week and had been expected to get final approval in the senate this week.
But the debate has been unexpectedly stalled by the League, the far-right coalition ally led by the deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, who argued that the law would “clog up the courts” and be used as a form of revenge.
The bill stipulates that anyone who engages in sexual acts without the other person’s explicit consent can face a prison term of six to 12 years. The aim of the measure is to make it easier for victims to report and prosecute rape.
