European Union

The EU and EU countries must commit to a feminist foreign policy. This means an intersectional feminist approach which puts gender, racial, economic and climate justice at its heart, prioritizes decolonization and puts the voices of those who have historically been least represented, and are often most impacted, at the centre of policymaking. 

The EU must relaunch its relationship with Latin America (LAC) by putting the region and its societies higher on the EU agenda. This ‘relaunch’ must focus on ending inequality in LAC – one of the world’s most unequal regions.

Companies cannot be left off the hook for the damage they cause to people and the planet. Precarious working conditions, low wages, and human rights abuses including slavery are rife in supply chains. Women are disproportionately affected as they are overwhelmingly concentrated in the least secure and lowest paid positions in supply chains, and routinely denied to use their voice. 

Civic space is at the heart of change. An open civic space enables people to come together, voice their needs, demand accountability, and fight for justice. However, around the world, governments are cracking down on people’s rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, association and expression, and the environment for civil society is shrinking. For the first time since 2004, there are more autocratic governments than democratic ones. 

Today, EU negotiators have reached a long-awaited political agreement on the EU migration pact. In response, Stephanie Pope, Oxfam EU migration expert, said: “As we hear EU statements celebrating this deal, the question is, at what cost?"

Responding to news that the EU has discarded at least 215 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, Piotr Kolczyński, EU Health Policy Advisor at the People’s Vaccine Alliance and Oxfam, said: “This is further proof that the EU wasted millions of its COVID-19 vaccines, hoarded early in the pandemic, as it locked poorer countries out of access.

Today, 26 EU leaders agreed on a revision to the EU’s long-term budget, with one EU country blocking the agreement. If confirmed in the new year, the deal would slash the new funding for external action proposed by the European Commission and supported by the European Parliament by prioritizing investment in migration management instead. 

Today, the EU agreed on a new European law to make companies accountable for the damage they cause to people and the planet - the Corporate Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). In response, Oxfam EU’s Economic Justice Policy Lead, Marc-Olivier Herman, said: "This deal marks a significant milestone as the largest of companies will finally have to clean up their act. But it did not get through unscathed with the regressive business lobby and a group of EU countries led by France and Germany punching holes in the law.

EU lawmakers risk letting fossil fuel financiers, greenwashers, and companies violating labour rights off the hook under new European due diligence rules.  

The richest 1 percent of the world’s population produced as much carbon pollution in 2019 than the five billion people who made up the poorest two-thirds of humanity, reveals a new Oxfam report today. It comes ahead of the UN climate summit in Dubai, amid growing fears that the 1.5°C target for curtailing rising temperatures appears increasingly unachievable.