Source: European Parliament
Combating and preventing violence against women and domestic violence is a key priority for the EU. The Roadmap for Women’s Rights[1], adopted in March 2025, is articulated around eight key women’s rights principles, with freedom from gender-based violence as the first principle.
The first objective under this principle consists of preventing and combating all forms of violence against women and girls, including domestic violence, femicide, and technology-facilitated gender-based violence.
The Roadmap does not include, in and of itself, specific actions and resources but rather sets a long-term vision with key principles and objectives on women’s rights which will inform forthcoming concrete policy measures, in particular under the Gender Equality Strategy post-2025. An open public consultation on concrete actions for this strategy was launched in May 2025.
In parallel, several actions are already ongoing. For instance, in May 2024 the directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence[2] was adopted.
The EU has now its first, strong and comprehensive law to fight gender-based violence, which requires Member States to take strong prevention measures. The directive must be implemented by June 2027.
The Artificial Intelligence (AI) Continent Action Plan[3] includes the InvestAI initiative that aims at mobilising EUR 200 billion for investment in AI.
This facility will not focus on investments in specific AI systems, but rather aims at mobilising investments for infrastructure needed for AI development, notably the development of AI Gigafactories in the EU.
- [1] The EU Roadmap for Women’s Rights: a renewed push for gender equality — European Commission.
- [2] Directive (EU) 2024/1385 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 May 2024 on combating violence against women and domestic violence, OJ L, 2024/1385, 24.5.2024, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2024/1385/o.
- [3] AI continent — European Commission.