A Union of Equality?

Last Thursday, Ursula von der Leyen, the new – and former – President of the EU Commission was elected by the European Parliament. In a speech in Strasbourg before the vote, von der Leyen presented the ‘Political Guidelines for the next European Commission 2024-2029’, her ideas and priorities for the coming mandate. While her agenda for the outgoing 2019-2024 mandate had a far more enthusiastic title, ‘A Union that strives for more’, von der Leyen has now decided to appeal for the coming mandate to all democrats under the title ‘Europe’s choice’. She points out how essential it is that the ‘democratic centre in Europe holds’. In order to achieve this goal, the democratic centre must, in her opinion, ‘live up to the scale of the concerns and the challenges that people face in their lives’ (EU Commission, p. 3). With the increasing support for parties that seek to restrict women’s and minorities’ rights, and the growing influence of anti-feminist movements in Europe, the promotion of gender equality is a pressing concern and challenge.

This blogpost will examine whether the Political Guidelines 2024-2029 are living up to the scale of these gender-related concerns and challenges, as Ursula von der Leyen promises. It identifies a shift in tone in the Commission’s pledges to promoting gender equality and outlines some proposals that the German Women Lawyers Association (djb) has advanced in order to help tackle these challenges.

What Progress Has Been Made Towards the Aspired ‘Union of Equality’?

In terms of her gender-related plans, Ursula von der Leyen’s Political Guidelines for her first mandate from 2019-2024 were very ambitious, firm in tone (‘I will accept nothing less’) and prominent in their word count. Indeed, Ursula von der Leyen has been rather successful at advancing gender policies and the progress has been praised by feminist civil society, especially for the Commission’s Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025. For example, the EU has achieved milestones such as the Violence against Women Directive or the EU’s accession to the Istanbul Convention. With the aim of empowering women in the labour market, the EU has adopted the Pay Transparency Directive and the Women on Boards Directive.

Despite these undoubtable and necessary achievements, there is still a long way to go to achieve the aspired “Union of Equality.” As the djb has constantly pointed out, national and European laws and policies are still perpetuating and reinforcing existing inequalities. Not all the objectives of the expiring Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025 have been achieved, which adds to the gaps the strategy already had from the outset. As a matter of fact, gender-based violence is still very much a brutal reality, in real life and in the digital sphere. The list of ‘gender gap terms’ – such as Gender Pay Gap, Gender Care Gap, Gender Pension Gap – continues to grow due to the rise in these gender-specific inequalities. In addition, anti-feminist movements are exerting a significant influence on European lawmakers and jurisprudence.

Are the Political Guidelines 2024-2029 up to the Challenge?

Now, the crucial question is whether the Commission is sufficiently prepared with its new Political Guidelines to meet the challenges ahead. The political scene in 2024 is completely different from that at the beginning of Ursula von der Leyen’s mandate. In the European Parliament, parties have gained support that challenge the rule of law and democracy and seek to systematically restrict the rights of women and other marginalised groups. And the wars in Ukraine and Gaza are very much on people’s minds. It is fitting that Ursula von der Leyen introduces her Political Guidelines 2024-2029 by referring to the ‘era of anxiety and uncertainty’ in which we are currently living (EU Commission, p. 3).

In the context of her pledges for a ‘Union of Equality’ (EU Commission, p. 20), she mentions the most pressing gender-related challenges in the guidelines and her speech, namely the strengthening of women’s rights, the fight against gender-based violence and the empowerment of women in politics and on the labour market. This shows that gender equality remains high on von der Leyen’s list of priority.

However, there is an unmistakeable change in tone. Not only has this section been halved in terms of word count since 2019, but the demands have also become more general and less ambitious. The announcement of re-appointing a Gender Equality Commissioner and updating the strategies on LGBTIQ equality, gender equality and anti-racism that expire in 2025 are very important, but also unsurprising and hardly innovative steps. The only new idea in the forthcoming agenda on gender equality is the Commission’s support for the idea of a vague ‘Roadmap for Women’s Rights’, which is not elaborated on. Given Ursula von der Leyen‘s continued, but rather general commitment to promoting gender equality, it is crucial that her pledges are underpinned by an ambitious and concrete programme for the next mandate.

Recommendations for Effectively Tackling the Challenges on Gender Equality

The progress made during the last mandate must be consolidated and additional reforms are urgently needed. With the aim of supporting the incoming Commission, the djb has published a catalogue of demands that brings together recommendations for reforms in different areas of law, such as commercial law, criminal law, social security law, public law and digital policy. Among other things, it proposes the adoption of new directives and concrete amendments (for a summary, see the Press Release). It also proposes reforms on horizontal issues affecting all areas of law (‘Cross-cutting issues’, p. 2 et seq.), three of which will be briefly presented by way of example.

First, the incoming EU Commission should prioritise its monitoring efforts on the implementation and enforcement of the so-called ‘Gender Equality Acquis’, the European secondary legislation in the area of gender equality (djb, p. 2). According to its own strategy for an effective enforcement of EU law, the Commission exercises its role as ‘guardian of the Treaties’ by prioritizing and acting firmly on infringements that “obstruct the implementation of important EU policy objectives” (EU Commission, p. 14). Given the strong normative anchoring of gender equality in the Treaties, prioritizing the enforcement of the Gender Equality Acquis is thus an inherent task of the Commission. In exercising this role, the Commission should make full use of its legal instruments and not to shy away from infringement proceedings. In fact, several directives on gender equality have not yet been transposed into national law and many are at risk of being delayed by some Member States (djb, p. 6). These include, in particular, the Violence against Women Directive, the Pay Transparency Directive, the Women on Boards Directive and the Work-Life Balance Directive.

A second recommendation pertains to the Commission’s impact assessments when preparing policies and programs. Before proposing new legislation, the Commission analyses the likely economic, social or environmental impact and publishes the assessment. So far, gender aspects have played a rather marginal role in this assessment. Thus, several feminist organisations – as well as the EU’s European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) – have called on the Commission to carry out a Gender Impact Assessment across the board, in which all proposals are systematically screened for gender needs and impacts (djb, p. 4), ensuring that gender aspects are an integral part of the existing social impact assessments.

A third important cross-cutting issue put forward by civil society concerns the distribution of budgetary resources: the incoming Commission should strive for a comprehensive ‘Gender Budgeting‘ (djb, p. 5). This method aims to sensitise all stakeholders to gender equality issues and ensure that the gender perspective is taken into account in budgetary decisions. It involves carrying out a gender assessment of budgets, incorporating a gender perspective at all levels of the budget process and reorganising spending to promote gender equality. For example, a gender-responsive budget recognises elements such as unpaid care work and reprioritises spending to promote equality.

The Need for a Convincing Democratic Vision of Society

The results of the 2024 European Parliament elections are deeply concerning and highlight the major challenges that the EU and its Member States will face in the coming years. Gender equality is deeply rooted in the EU’s fundamental principles and impacts the lives of all EU citizens. The EU institutions, in particular the incoming EU Commission, must counter the anti-democratic and anti-feminist tendencies with a convincing democratic vision of society based on European values and principles.

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Disclosure: The author is a member of the Expert Group on European and International Law of the German Women Lawyers Association (Deutscher Juristinnenbund, djb), which led the drafting of the catalogue of demands to the incoming EU Commission. The views expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of the djb. The author would like to thank Margarete Hofmann, Valentina Chiofalo and Ebru Tuncel for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this text.