BARCELONA, 6-7 March – Several MEPs joined EPF and various SRHR NGOs for the #Agenda2030Feminista seminar in Barcelona. Speakers included MEP Ernest Urtasun and NGO representatives and the local APPG, L'Associació Drets Sexuals i Reproductius.
EPF Secretary Neil Datta spoke on a panel on Fundamentalism, Extremism and Women's Rights, stressing the vital importance of the collaboration of SRHR organisations and initiatives to study the origins and financing of ultra-conservative groups as a precaution: "They know a lot about us. We too must learn and know who we are dealing with to predict their next moves."
He continued: "We have unexpected battlefields: Russian oligarchs and billionaires from the U.S. and Europe have been exposed as financial supporters of various anti-choice, ultra-conservative groups, and their attacks to reverse laws against gender-based violence in Russia and Poland are now being mirrored in Spain."
Overall, the event provided the opportunity for both parliamentarians and civil society to have an insightful and much needed discourse about the sinister rise in ultra-conservatism in Europe and how to manage it.