The European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) ‘Ban on conversion practices in the European Union’, which collected the requisite one million signatures within a week, states that conversion practices have been qualified as torture by the United Nations and are being prohibited in a growing number of countries. It calls on the Commission to propose legislation against conversion practices targeting LGBTQ+ persons in the EU. The ECI also asks the Commission to qualify these practices as particularly serious crimes with a cross-border dimension addressed at the EU treaty level (known as “euro-crimes”), and calls for the victims’ rights directive to establish minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of conversion practices.
Since 2016, Parliament has strongly condemned all forms of discrimination against LGBTQ+ people, including conversion 'therapies', and has made repeated calls for EU member states to ban such practices. This issue is also included in the fundamental rights report voted in the Civil Liberties Committee in February 2026, expected to be tabled in plenary in April 2026. The European Commission must reply to the citizens’ demands by 18 May 2026. It has also confirmed that it is conducting a study on conversion practices, with results expected in early 2027.
Debate: Wednesday, 25 March
Procedure: European Citizens’ Initiative (no resolution)