20:24 27 July 2020
‘EU accession to the Istanbul Convention is a priority’
The accession of the European Union to the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence remains a priority, the spokesman of the European Commission Adalbert Jahnz informed on Monday at a conference in Brussels. The EC was asked about announcements regarding the commencement of formal work on the termination of the so-called the Istanbul Convention in Poland.
"The EU signed the convention in June 2017 and the EC has been working with the Council since then to finalize the accession process. This is a very important convention," Adalbert Jahnz, said.
Not all EU countries have ratified the convention. Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia, as well as Great Britain, which no longer belongs to the community, as well as Ukraine, Moldova and Armenia, did not.
On Sunday evening, EU Equality Commissioner Helena Dalli tweeted that the declarations of any member state's withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention were "worrying".
"Such decisions would be regrettable. Instead, member states should make efforts to protect victims of violence against women. The European Commission is determined to act for the ratification of the Convention," she announced on this social networking site.
(PAP)
