Discussion Paper Agnès Hubert and Barbara Helfferich Integrating Gender into EU Economic Governance: Oxymoron or Opportunity? • Over the last decade, gender equality in the EU has not only lost its clout, but is slipping off the political agenda altogether. Instead, economic governance instruments, designed to keep gov­ernment expenditures at bay by practising fiscal austerity, have dominated the European polit­ical stage. • The economic crisis alone cannot explain the diversion of policy away from gender equality. There are many other reasons that could account for the change from the once coveted policy of gender mainstreaming – solidly embedded in the European Treaties and applied to all EU policy areas – to a policy guided by a quasi clandestine programme that has downsized its importance to a mere“Engagement” in gender equality. • Rather than being a central component of the EU’s macroeconomic recovery strategy, gender equality – one of the Union’s strongest common social objectives since the signing of the T­ reaty of Rome – is instead treated as a mere add-on. While the OECD, the World Bank and the World Economic Forum repeatedly and convincingly argue that gender equality generates growth as well as justice, European Union policy-makers do not seem to have integrated this thinking into their macroeconomic policy. • Putting in place revised or new governance structures and processes takes time. The authors of this paper therefore examine how existing and well-tested structures, which promote the integration of the gender dimension into macroeconomic policymaking, could be used to ­ensure better and more democratic governance. Such approach could also facilitate a transition away from austerity and towards objectives that constitute a caring economy. EU Office Brussels