Diego Badell, a researcher at the Observatori, has published an article titled “Norm Contestation in EU Foreign Policy: The Case of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights” in the Journal of Common Market Studies. The article addresses how the EU considers gender equality fundamental to its identity, with Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) playing a crucial role. It argues that the type of socialisation with the norm is essential to understand how SRHR has evolved in EU foreign policy between 1997 and 2021.
In this time period, contestation became institutionalised within the EU, which explains the strengthening of the norm. However, from 2017 to 2020, contestation regarding the validity of the norm emerged when Hungary, Poland and the United States formed an alliance opposing SRHR, resulting in the symbolic exclusion of Hungary and Poland from the EU’s normative community. In 2021, in a less polarised international context, with the United States returning to the SRHR consensus, Hungary and Poland reaffirmed their commitment to the EU consensus on SRHR, highlighting the resilience of the norm.