Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) and Euskal Herria Bildu (EH Bildu) jointly registered this Thursday more than twenty amendments for the reform presented by the PSOE of the Law of ‘only yes is yes’. As both parliamentary partners of the Government have registered, they propose a new definition of consent and rule out returning to the previous Penal Code, as suggested by the formation of Pedro Sánchez.
Both parties say that reintroducing violence and intimidation to increase the sentences for sexual offenders would be “affirming that there are nonviolent rapes.” For this reason, they propose add aggression as an aggravating factor.
In one of their submitted amendments, ERC and EH Bildu contemplate the possibility of modifying article 178 of the Law ‘only if it is yes’ that defines consent: “when it has been freely expressed through acts that clearly express the will of the person” and adds that “it will not be deduced that there is consent due to the absence of physical resistance or the silence of the victim, nor due to his previous sexual conduct”.
In this sense, the spokesmen in the congress of the two parties, Gabriel Rufián (ERC) and Mertxe Aizpurua (EH Bildu) assure about this: “It would have more incidence in the evidentiary aspect that determines the impunity of many procedures”. In addition, they point out that it could “align with international standards”.
This position is in line with the words of the Minister for Equality, who defends shielding consent. The amendments registered this Thursday have not been negotiated with United We Can. The deadline to finalize the presentation of amendments for the reform of the Law ‘Only yes is yes’ ends next Monday, April 10.