FEPS Newsletter 9 March 2026 – ♀️ International Women’s Day

But also, a social European sovereignty – If you have problems displaying this email, follow […]

09/03/2026
But also, a social European sovereignty –

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Gender equality

No country in the world has reached full legal equality for women and girls. Women and girls still have only 64% of the same legal rights as men. On International Women’s Day, and every day, FEPS reaffirms its commitment to building a just and equal society with gender equality at its centre.

 

A gender backlash is happening across the globe. Politicians and leaders are actively rolling back on women’s rights and years of hard-won progress for power, votes and ideology. This is not business as usual. We can no longer just say in words how important women’s rights are – we need to act. 

 

At FEPS, we work to ensure that at an empirical level, the data, the research and the evidence keep gender equality at the heart of policymaking in Europe. 

FFPPVC commentary on the new EU Gender Equality Strategy 2026-2030

Photo credits: EC – Audiovisual Service

FFPPVC commentary on the new EU Gender Equality Strategy 2026-2030

 

The European Commission presented the new EU Gender Equality Strategy. Amid a global backlash on gender justice and democracy, this sends an important signal and reaffirms the EU’s commitment to gender equality.

These attacks on women’s rights and democratic institutions are coordinated globally and across borders. To counter them, it is vital to ensure coherence with the EU’s external policy on gender justice. Discover how to apply it to the EU level with the full commentary by the Feminist Foreign Policy Progressive Voices Collective, by FEPS with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) and partners.

FEPS TALKS PODCAST

Muscular masculinity is reinforcing itself in the realm of security

With Lina Gálvez Muñoz and Toni Haastrup

 

🎧  Spotify | Apple Podcast | Website | Youtube

Listen to the podcast

As debates around multilateralism intensify and the global order shifts, rules we thought were here to stay are suddenly under threat. Feminist Foreign Policy can open a pathway to embed gender-responsive, justice-oriented thinking and an accountability framework into international relations, and to rethink what security, cooperation and power should look like.

The Gen Z gender divide in political behaviour

PROJECT LAUNCH – 9 OCTOBER – FEPS HQ

The Gen Z gender divide in political behaviour

 

In October 2025, FEPS launched the project “EqualiZe”, a major new flagship initiative covering five EU countries – Germany, Greece, Poland, Spain and Sweden. 

 

Drawing on cross-country surveys and attitudinal data, the project investigates the drivers of the Gen Z gender divide of political opinion and voting behaviour, and its implications for democracy in the European Union.

 

Check out the preliminary findings of the research project and stay tuned for what’s to come! 

4 MARCH – EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

Growing backlash against women’s rights and democracy

 

FEPS President Nicolas Schmit joined the S&D Group at the European Parliament to discuss how to counter the global backlash against women’s rights and democracy. Watch the full conference!

 
Growing backlash against women’s rights and democracy
Feminist Foreign Policy

POLICY BRIEF SERIES 

🗂️ Feminist Foreign Policy

Series produced in the framework of the FFPPVC, led by FEPS with FES

 

This policy brief series offers insights into how the EU can advance gender-sensitive and sustainable peace agreements in a time of mounting militarisation.  

 

We highlight six urgent priorities: 

European sovereignty

The current geopolitical turmoil is calling for the European Union to reaffirm its ambition and further develop its sovereignty.  

 

European sovereignty must rely on a genuine development model guided by its climate ambition, fuelled by public investments, powered by fair digital innovation and rooted in its social model. With wellbeing as their compass, progressive continue championing policies answering citizens everyday concerns while strengthening Europe in the world.

POLICY BRIEF 

European sovereignty and the social dimension

Reasserting Europe’s social-democratic model in turbulent times

By László Andor and Robin Huguenot-Noël

 

Five years after the adoption of the Action Plan for the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights in Porto, this policy brief argues that European sovereignty cannot be reduced to military or geopolitical autonomy.

 European sovereignty and the social dimension

It demands a social foundation not a US blueprint. Sovereignty must therefore include a renewed social dimension, which means protecting citizens, strengthening solidarity and ensuring democratic control over economic power. 

 

📰 Read the op-ed written by the authors for the digital media Social Europe!

FEPS Secretary General László Andor at the EU Social Rights Forum

4 MARCH – BRUSSELS, BELGIUM

FEPS Secretary General László Andor at the EU Social Rights Forum

 

At the EU Social Rights Forum, FEPS Secretary General László Andor presented the keynote speech on the working group session which discussed the first-ever EU Anti-Poverty Strategy. Find out more.

POLICY BRIEF 

Digital sovereignty and a new multilateralism for the AI era

By Francesca Bria – In collaboration with FES, Fondation Jean-Jaurès, Avanza, Fundación Pablo Iglesias, Karl-Renner-Institut and Olof Palme International Center

 

Artificial intelligence is transforming not only economies but the very nature of global power, reshaping sovereignty itself in the digital age. This policy brief examines how control over digital infrastructures – chips, cloud computing, data networks and algorithmic systems – has become the new determinant of geopolitical influence.

Digital sovereignty and a new multilateralism for the AI era
Events

Upcoming events

See full schedule

Crash! Boom! Bubble!
 

📅  11 MARCH 

📍 HELSINKI, FINLAND

💻 HYBRID

Crash! Boom! Bubble!
The economics of AI and the Nordic welfare state

 

Will AI bring a new surge in productivity or is it merely a false promise? What role should AI play in the economy of the future? 

 

Within the FEPS-Nordic Digital Programme, a public discussion on this topic will take place at the Think Corner Stage of the University of Helsinki. Follow it online!

Place-based industrial policy in Europe
 

📅  19 MARCH

📍 FEPS HQ

Place-based industrial policy in Europe

 

This event will discuss how regional and local political processes determine the shape of industrial policy and how social democrats can better develop, implement and manage the politics of industrial policy in critical sectors and regions. 

 

It will also discuss the upcoming policy study of the same name. Register here.

Progressive Post

DOSSIER

The fight against poverty is a fight for human rights

 

Will the EU eradicate poverty? Poverty is about people’s rights and the upcoming anti-poverty strategy must tackle it as more than an economic issue.

The fight against poverty is a fight for human rights

Photo credits: Shutterstock / Emvat Mosakovskis

 

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Frågan om jämställdhet splittrar unga svenskar

by dagens arena 29/10/2026
"The issue of gender equality divides young Swedes" - FEPS Policy Analyst on Democracy Matteo Dressler discusses the findings of the EqualiZe policy study in the Swedish context.

Brazil’s Lula survives Bolsonaro scare, safeguarding EU democratic ally on climate and trade

by EUobserver 26/10/2026
Read EUobserver's analysis of what comes next after Brazil's elections, which includes comments from Thainá Leite, Project Coordinator at FEPS

Франција е Франција – но Франција е и Европа

by Racin.mk 21/10/2026
“France is France – but France is also Europe.” In an opinion piece for Racin.mk, László Andor, Secretary General of FEPS, argues that France’s youth protests, set against a latent budget crisis and growing precarity (schools, housing), risk benefiting Marine Le Pen, and that France, despite bending the EU’s fiscal rules, has also propped up European growth.

La Regina, il problema dei divari territoriali è una questione europea

by Regione Basilicata 22/09/2026
“La Regina: territorial disparities are a European issue” News article published by ANSA (IT), featuring Raffaele La Regina, participant in the FEPS Young Academics Network, discussing territorial and social inequalities across Europe, the need to reconcile competitiveness and cohesion, and the role of European cohesion policy, industrial policy and investment in ensuring that no region is left behind.