SEX without consent could soon be classified as rape in Spain after its government approved a draft sexual consent Bill on Tuesday.

The “only yes means yes” law now goes to parliament for a debate and vote, which will likely take place in September.

If the Bill passes into law it will bring Spain in line with Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Sweden and Britain, which have all changed their definition of rape to mean sex without consent.

The proposed law “makes clear that silence or passivity do not mean consent, or that not showing opposition can not be an excuse to act against the will of the other person,” government spokeswoman Maria Jesus Montero said.

“We have to transform our sexual culture, placing women’s consent at the centre of how we see things.”

Campaigners have been pressing for legal changes since the notorious gang rape of an 18-year-old woman in 2016 during the Pamplona bull-running festival.

Five men were convicted of the lesser crime of sexual abuse after a court found no proof that they had used physical violence. The law required such proof for an assault to be classified as rape.

The verdict led to mass protests and was eventually overturned in the Supreme Court, which issued sentences for rape.

The Bill also proposes jail terms for sexual harassment at work and would criminalise forced marriage, genital mutilation and catcalling.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said that the law would make Spain “a freer and safer place for women” and “a society where we all live without fear and in equality.”