The Istanbul Convention enters into force in the European Union on October 1, the European Commission said.  Although it has not been ratified at the national level by several countries, including Bulgaria, the Convention is legally binding on all member states, the Commission's Spokesperson Christian Wigand said. 

The Istanbul Convention is a legal framework aimed at protecting women against all forms of violence. In 2018, the Constitutional Court of Bulgaria adopted a decision stating that the Istanbul Convention advocates legal concepts related to the concept of "gender" that are incompatible with the basic principles of the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria. In 2021, the Court of Justice of the EU ruled that the European Union as a whole could ratify the convention by qualified majority voting rather than unanimity because of the refusal of some countries to accept it.