Round table discussant

The contribution analyses the von der Leyen Commission with a gender+ lens. In the last fifteen years, the European Union (EU) has witnessed the exponential increase in opposition against gender equality and LGBT rights, both at the national and at the supranational level of the EU. However, EU institutions have only recently started to regard such opposition as a threat and to respond accordingly. The European Commission under President von der Leyen has taken unprecedented action in this regard. Indeed, the Commission has gone from a timid response before 2019, to the arduous defence of gender equality and especially LGBT rights under von der Leyen. The Commission President has called for the vision of "A Union of Equality". It has used all the tools at its disposal: discourse, institutional structuring, policies, and legal action.