What’s in a name? ‘Conservatives’ in the European Parliament: the case of the European Conservatives and Reformists group

Radical right and populist right-wing political parties have garnered significant academic and popular attention in recent years, also from the vantage point of the European Parliament (EP). Yet, extant literature focuses little on the European Conservatives and Reformists’ (ECR) group. The article explores the ambiguity of the ECR and its positionality in terms of conservatism, the volatility of the group composition, and what happens to the political group and its ideas when a founding member leaves. By focusing on the current and former main national party delegations in the ECR – the British Conservative Party, the Polish Law and Justice Party, and the Italian Brothers of Italy – we unpack the ideological underpinnings constructing the political positions of the ECR group. In taking a closer look at the ECR group this article examines the impact of Brexit and concomitant developments on the composition, political leanings, practices, and policies of a ‘conservative’ group in the EP. Our goal is to explore what ‘conservative’ means in Europe today. What are the implications and connections to broader European politics? What can a gender lens add to these questions? By looking at the gender equality practices and policies of the ECR in the 8th (2014-2019) and 9th (2019-2024) parliamentary terms, we locate a key policy area, crucial to the identity of what it means to be a conservative party in Europe today. We combine the analysis of ECR group data (statutes, political programs, position papers) with unique interview and ethnographic data from the EUGenDem project (https://projects.tuni.fi/eugendem/). In doing so, the article contributes not only to the study of European Union politics, but also to the research agendas concerned with national conservative parties in Europe.