This year could be a decisive year for gender equality in the European Union. With a woman in charge of the European Commission, a commissioner devoted exclusively to promoting equality and a progressive majority in the European Parliament, the stars seem to be aligning.

But there’s one important EU institution that’s still missing in action. At the Council of the European Union, where representatives of national governments gather to work together on EU policy, there is no forum dedicated to gender equality. It’s important that we change this as soon as possible.

The Council is currently divided into 10 so-called configurations. The Foreign Affairs Council makes decisions on international affairs. The Economic and Financial Affairs Council takes on economic issues and regulates financial affairs. Similar bodies work on agriculture and fisheries, the environment, justice and home affairs, and education, youth, culture and sport.

But there is no configuration dedicated to promoting and ensuring gender equality. Not only does this send out the message that the Council considers the issue a second-rate priority, it means that policymaking on gender equality ends up sliced up between different ministers’ meetings.

If equality between women and men is a founding value of the EU, shouldn’t the institutional architecture reflect that? That is why EDP is calling for the urgent creation of a dedicated Council configuration gathering EU ministers and secretaries of state in charge of gender equality.

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