The European Parliament on Wednesday adopted the Commission's proposal for a new regulation ensuring that legal protection for violence victims in one member state can be maintained when they travel or move to another.

The EU-wide protection for violence victims is part of a broader objective to build a European area of justice, and the regulation is to complement the directive of European protection order, which ensures criminal law protection throughout Europe.

Under the regulation, EU citizens who have suffered from violence, domestic violence in particular, can rely on a restraining order obtained in their home country wherever they are within the EU, or the so-called "the protection that travel with citizens."

"This is a tangible example of how the EU is helping to reinforce the rights of victims all over Europe," said Viviane Reding, the Commission's vice president and justice commissioner.

The Commission also noted that the new regulation would mostly benefit women, as surveys showed around one in five women in Europe had suffered from physical violence at least once in their lives.

The regulation was passed on Wednesday by 602 votes to 23, with 63 abstentions, at the Parliament's plenary session in Strasbourg, France. It is expected to be formally adopted by the EU Council in June and applied in all member states except for Denmark starting from January 2015.