Radical right populists at our table: Unpolitics in the Council of the EU and the case of gender+ equality

Jacquot, Sophie;Beaudonnet, Laurie
(2025) Do populists in power undermine liberal democracy? Comparisons between Europe and the Americas — Location: University of Ottawa and Carleton University (25.September.2025)

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  • Jacquot, Sophieorcid-logoUCLouvain
    Author
  • Beaudonnet, LaurieUniversité de Montréal
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Abstract
In the last fifteen years, the European Union (EU) has witnessed an exponential increase in opposition and attacks against gender equality and LGBTIQ rights by radical rights populist parties, not only at the national level but also at the supranational level. From a rather consensual policy domain, where conflict mainly focused on the financial consequences of regulation, gender+ equality issues have become increasingly politicised at the EU level, including conflict on the very definition nature and objectives of these policies. The strategies of radical right populists in opposing gender+ equality are well documented in the European Parliament but less so in the Council of the EU. In this context, and in line with the conference call, our aim with this paper is to explore the following questions related to the consequences of the presence of radical right populists government in the Council of the EU in the field of gender+ equality: - Has the presence of radical right populist governments resulted in the politicisation of gender+ equality issues within the Council? - If yes, what were the opposing strategies developed by these actors and how has this politicisation affected EU governance in the Council ? - How has the European Commission responded to these opposing strategies when designing legislation and public policies and elaborating negotiation strategies to defend them within the Council? To investigate these questions, we will focus on the 2010-2024 period, to compare the impact of a variety of radical right populist governments in the Council on the one side and different European Commission’s mandates on the other side. Our analysis will be based on three different types of data: minutes of Council meetings, news reports from the news agency Agence Europe (Europe Daily Bulletin) and interviews with members of the Council and the Commission. Triangulation will allow us to investigate the potential politicisation of gender+ equality and actors’ strategies in both institutions.
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Jacquot, S., & Beaudonnet, L. (2025). Radical right populists at our table: Unpolitics in the Council of the EU and the case of gender+ equality. Do populists in power undermine liberal democracy? Comparisons between Europe and the Americas, University of Ottawa and Carleton University. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/258658