“To bring about a ,demographic spring’“ - Discourses on migration, population, fertility and gender in the EU Institutions

The EU is facing substantial demographic challenges in recent and coming decades. To understand the development of demographic discourses among different EU-actors from a feminist perspective this paper gives an overview over the demographic trends and challenges in the European Union. Based on a quantitative analysis of historical Twitter data the paper first identifies the main actors in the field of demography in the EU institutions. Second, the analysis of Twitter posts and documents produced by commissioners, members and political parties of the European Parliament from 2015 to summer 2021 allows to determine the key issues that are being discussed in this context, the ideas of gender inscribed in the discourses as well as the sources that different actors use to underpin their arguments. Furthermore, the Twitter analysis shows that the EU institutions see demographic change primarily as being driven by an aging population, migration and decreasing birth rates. Taking critical discourse analysis as a further starting point, we thirdly look at how the corresponding debates on demography are being framed and which discursive and explanatory strategies are used by the actors identified. Finally we try to answer the question why and how demographic discourses have been hijacked by illiberal, right-wing and conservative forces and what role anti-feminist positions play in their discursive strategies. Thus we come to the conclusion that the decline of birth rates has been addressed by the EU-Commission in a way that leaves it as an open signifier framing, which may be filled by the right-wing parties. With respect to demographic discourses on migration, the EU Commission seems to have promoted an interpretative template that also allows for arguments on anti-migration discourses.