European Union

by Solomiya Kharchuk This article is based on research presented at the UACES Graduate Forum Research Conference 2021 (17-18 June, online)

 

The clash over LGBTQ+ rights between Poland and the European Union has been particularly noticeable in recent years. From this clash, questioning around why Poland and the European Union disagree on the issue of LGBTQ+ rights arises.

I rely on a constructivist approach to social reality, which is based on the idea that the world we dwell in is socially constructed. Accordingly, I build upon the “interpretivist theory of knowledge”. That is to say that I assume interpretation plays a crucial role regarding human action because material items mean nothing on their own. We create meaning through the process of interpretation as well as by using linguistic signs. Hence, another question arises: how do decision-makers from the EU and Poland interpret the issue of LGBTQ+ rights?

As Ronald Holzhacker holds, framing LGBTQ+ rights as a human rights paradigm is necessary in order to achieve a “broader emancipation strategy”. The term “emancipation” is central to the discipline of security studies at Aberystwyth School, and, as stated by Ken Booth, refers to “the securing of people from those oppressions that stop them carrying out what they would freely choose to do, compatible with the freedom of others”. Many actors, including IGOs, NGOs, media and academics, have contributed to the process of framing LGBTQ+ rights in terms of human rights. Their efforts have proven fruitful because the principle of non-discrimination based on sexual orientation is now included in the general framework of human rights. This framework is in turn anchored in ideas of “universality”, “equality” and “non-discrimination”.

In regard to the European Union, with the coming into force of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009, the Charter of Fundamental Rights became an integral part of the EU’s legal framework. In accordance with Article 21 of the Charter, discrimination based on sexual orientation is prohibited. Furthermore, one of the purposes of the EU Agency for Fundamental Human Rights is to promote non-discrimination based on sexuality.

However, since 2019, more than 100 municipalities in Poland passed local regulations resulting in their becoming so-called “LGBT-ideology-free zones”. The IGLA Europe reported that in May 2021, Poland received the lowest EU ranking (13,22%) on how the laws and policies of each country impact the lives of LGBTIQ people. Furthermore, the most recent Human Rights Watch Report held that “[t]he government ramped up its attacks on women’s and LGBT rights, part of the government’s increasing hostile rhetoric against what it refers to as “gender ideology””. In 2020, the President of Poland stated the following: “this is just like the Neo-bolshevism (…) they are trying to convince us that these are people, albeit this is nothing else that the ideology (…) if someone has any doubts that it is actually the ideology, examine the pages of history, so you will see how the LGBT movement was being constructed, so you will see how this ideology was being constructed”. In 2021, the chairman of the ruling Law and Justice Party, said the following when asked about the LGBTQ+  community: “as long as we govern [this country], no one will be able to impose anything on us. All the [people] who want to live in a normal world, where a woman is a woman, and a man is a man (…) If we want to live in the society, which refers to obvious things, it is necessary to support our formation”.

In 2020, the President of the European Commission Ursula von den Leyen, stated that “LGBTI-free-zones are humanity-free zones and have no place in our union”. This statement also places an emphasis on a broader issue of human rights in relation to the EU’s external relations. The President of the European Commission also uttered important words about the LGBTQ+ community: “I will not rest when it comes to building a Union of equality. A Union where you can be who you are and love who you want – without fear of recrimination or discrimination. Because being yourself is not your ideology. It’s your identity. And no-one can ever take it away”. Moreover, Ursula von den Leyen unveiled the first-ever European Commission Strategy for LGBTIQ equality (2020-2025) which includes specific goals for the EU, namely, tackling of discrimination against LGBTIQ people, ensuring the community’s safety, building LGBTIQ inclusive societies, and leading the call for LGBTIQ equality around the world. In March, 2021, the European Parliament passed a symbolic resolution, declaring the whole European Union an “LGBTIQ Freedom Zone”.

To summarize, Polish decision makers interpret and represent LGBTQ+ people as a problem and followers of an “ideology” which poses a threat to Polish society. Conversely, European Union decision-makers treat the LGBTQ+ community as people who have the right to their identity. This, in turn, allows one to claim that EU decision-makers represent the LGBTQ+ community following Ken Booth’s explanation of emancipation. In conclusion, the collision between the Polish and EU decision-makers stems from different interpretations and representations of the same people.

 

 

Solomiya Kharchuk is a PhD candidate at the Doctoral College of Political and Administrative Sciences, University of Wroclaw. She holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in International Relations from the University of Wroclaw.

 

 

The European Commission’s support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

 

 

The post Poland vs. The EU: The “Clash” over LGBTQ+ Rights appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

by Michał Gulczyński This article is based on research presented at the UACES Graduate Forum Research Conference 2021 (17-18 June, online)

 

In 2019, Donald Tusk famously said “Europe is a woman,” when arguing for gender parity in top positions in the European Union (EU). Indeed, the EU has been recognized as a leading actor in women’s empowerment and gender equality policy. Gender has been successfully mainstreamed in the communication of the European Commission. In 2018, as many as 14% of the Commission’s press releases mentioned words like gender, women/female or men/male.

Some recent studies suggest that women are more supportive of the EU than men, while opposition to European integration is often linked to the rejection of gender equality and feminism. Therefore, it seems justified to ask whether the EU’s gender equality narratives have the potential of negatively affecting men’s support for the EU.

My analysis of all press releases issued by the Commission since 1985 shows that the Commission mostly talks about men in two situations: when referring to “equality of women and men” or when comparing women to men. Men are very rarely mentioned without reference to women. Every year, around 1-2% of press releases refer to men but not to women. However, in the 1980s, the word “man” was used as a neutral synonym of “human” (“the ordinary man fears that taxes will be too high”), and now, it is often used in the context of “man-made disasters.”

Unfortunately, this change in the image of men is reflected in policies. The latest Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025 starts with a chapter on gender-based violence. There, women are presented as victims in need of help, while men are portrayed as perpetrators. As a result, men seem not to deserve any policy  which would have an aim other than that of supporting women.

Men are also portrayed as an uniformly advantaged group, i.e., one with high political power, holding top positions and capital. In contrast, the Gender Equality Strategy underlines women’s struggle for political influence not only in the area of gender equality (within the #MeToo movement), but also in the “push for change” in the field of climate policy.

Importantly, the Gender Equality Strategy mentions intersectionality, but only to state that “[w]omen are a heterogeneous group and may face intersectional discrimination.” Although an intersectional approach might help to discover some dependent groups of men –i.e., men without political power who deserve dedicated public policies, such as less educated single men in rural areas or male refugees– this possibility is discarded by the biased definition. This is in line with the finding that topics such as humanitarian aid and refugees are more frequently found in press releases referring only to women.

It is relatively easy to imagine the consequences of the division between women as a deserving and men as a non-deserving group. Men are not regarded as a potential policy target population.

For example, the Strategy states: “while there are more women university graduates in Europe than men graduates, women remain underrepresented in higher paid professions.” The Commission does not discuss any solutions for the gaps in higher education or digital skills. Those gaps are only mentioned to underline the gaps negatively affecting women. On top of that, and despite realizing that more women than men graduate from university, the Commission denies the existence of the reversed education gender gap: “while the gender gap in education is being closed […].” In the following paragraphs, the Commission proposes targeted programmes only for women. Similarly, the Strategy underlines that “women and men experience gender-specific health risks,” but only reproductive health problems are explicitly mentioned.

In sum, in the last 25 years, gender has become an important part of European Commission’s communication and policies. However, the meaning of gender is limited to the “women-as-victims” frame. The negative image of men as a non-deserving (deviant) and, simultaneously, politically powerful group does not allow any intersectional perspective to be taken in relation to men and their problems. It may also block the possibility of addressing justified needs of the groups of men who have limited political influence. The reversed education gender gap or the life expectancy gender gap are good examples of this. Finally, the perpetuation of such narratives most likely damages the reputation of the European Union among young men who may see it as hostile towards their gender.

 

Acknowledgements: I am grateful to Christian Rauh, who generously shared the dataset of press releases of the European Commission.

 

 

Michał Gulczyński is a PhD student in Public Policy and Administration at the Bocconi University. His main research interest are European integration and the relationships between gender, politics and policies.

Twitter: @gulczynskim

 

 

 

The European Commission’s support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

 

 

The post Europe is a Woman. And What Does She Say about Men? appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

Monday, 5 July

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

The European Parliament’s spokesperson will hold a last-minute briefing on the 5-8 July plenary session today at 16.30.

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

What are the goals of the new EU Environment Action Plan to 2030 and what has to be done to achieve them?

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

"In the context of the exponential growth of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the President of the European Parliament has announced a number of measures to contain the spread of epidemic and to safeguard Parliament's core activities.

The current precautionary measures adopted by the European Parliament to contain the spread of COVID-19 do not affect work on legislative priorities. Core activities are reduced, but maintained to ensure that the institution's legislative, budgetary, scrutiny functions are maintained.

The meetings will be with remote participation for Members (being able to view and listen to proceedings, ask for the floor and intervene in the meeting). Other participants are invited to follow the meeting through webstreaming.

Following these decisions, the next ordinary AFET Committee meetings will take place on 14-15 July (via videoconference).

EP Calendar 2021
AFET-SEDE-DROI meetings
Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

Thousands of Europeans were keen to buy fake electronic certificates about their vaccination status and fake vaccines, according to Italian police, who broke up a cyber-crime marketplace over the weekend. Prices ranged from €110 to €130 for an "all inclusive" package of fake pass and fake vial of vaccine. "Anyone found with these fake certificates, including buyers, risks ... offences punishable by up to six years," Italian police said.

Four people were found dead on Sunday as a huge fire raged for a second day in Cyprus, razing tracts of forest and gutting dozens of homes in a blaze one official called the worst on record, Reuters reports. "Its one of the most destructive [fires] we have experienced, unfortunately, with victims," Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades told reporters from the area. The state would support all those affected, he said.

The EU is planning to tax high-polluting aviation fuels in a new package of climate-change measures due out on 14 July, Reuters writes. An aviation-fuel exemption "is not coherent with the present climate challenges and policies", the draft paper said. The minimum EU-wide tax for aircraft fuels used on trips inside Europe was to be phased in over 10 years, it added, without giving a figure for the final amount.

French health minister Olivier Veran warned Sunday that the 'Delta variant' of coronavirus was sweeping through his country. "For five days, [the infection rate] hasn't come down - it's rising again. Because of the Delta variant, which is very contagious. The British example shows that a fourth wave is possible from the end of July," he said. "We must move even faster [on vaccination]," he added.

Former Polish prime minister and EU Council president Donald Tusk has made a comeback into national politics, by taking his over his former political party, the centre-right Civic Platform opposition party. "The evil that PiS is performing is evident, shameless and permanent. It's happening every day, in almost every matter," he said in a speech in. Warsaw Saturday, referring to the ruling and nationalist-populist Law and Justice (PiS) party.

The EU will have to hit harder at Belarus' top company, Belaruskali, to influence the regime, its own workers have said.

Slovenia will give special attention to the discussion on the Western Balkan integration into the EU during the six months that it will hold the presidency of the EU Council, its prime minister Janez Janša said.

The European Parliament will debate in Strasbourg the breaches of EU law and of the rights of LGBTIQ people in Hungary, and adopt resolutions on the issues.

In the context of the exponential growth of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the President of the European Parliament has announced a number of measures to contain the spread of epidemic and to safeguard Parliament's core activities.

The current precautionary measures adopted by the European Parliament to contain the spread of COVID-19 do not affect work on legislative priorities. Core activities are reduced, but maintained to ensure that the institution's legislative, budgetary, scrutiny functions are maintained.

The meetings will be with remote participation for Members (being able to view and listen to proceedings, ask for the floor and intervene in the meeting). Other participants are invited to follow the meeting through webstreaming.

Following these decisions, the next meetings of the Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE) will take place on 12 and 13 July 2021 (online).
The meeting agenda and documents will be published here.

SEDE meetings' calendar 2021
EP calendar 2021
Press release: Sahel: Security situation from the African perspective - 12 April 2021
Press release: MEPs quizzed the head of the IAEA about nuclear non-proliferation - 16 March 2021
Press release: Exchange of views with the NATO Secretary General - 15 March 2021
Press release: Instability in the Central African Republic - 24 February 2021
Press release: Chair of the Security and Defence Subcommittee welcomes extension of the New START Treaty - 5 February 2021
Press release: MEPs to discuss security and defence priorities with Minister Gomes Cravinho - 28 January 2021
Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

AMENDMENTS 1 - 347 - Draft report The persecution of minorities on the grounds of belief or religion
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Karol Karski

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The rights of LGBTIQ people in Hungary, the Slovenian presidency’s priorities and rule of law are some of the topics on Parliament’s agenda at the 5-8 July plenary session.

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Plenary session, Strasbourg

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Newsletter - 5-8 July 2021 - Strasbourg plenary session

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

Length of video : 7'29''

Disclaimer : The interpretation of debates serves to facilitate communication and does not constitute an authentic record of proceedings. Only the original speech or the revised written translation is authentic.
Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP