Poland is continuing to block EU development and human rights policies over the definition of gender, according to EU diplomats.
The Polish government has been holding up some EU policies because it believes that gender equality that goes beyond male and female should not be enshrined as a concept in the EU's international development policy.
Instead the country wants equality to be determined as that "between men and women."
Diplomats say Poland has been blocking proposals in international development and human rights for some time.
In 2020, Poland and Hungary objected to the European Commission’s Gender Action Plan III, which aims to promote women and girls’ rights, as well as LGBTQI rights, worldwide.
According to diplomats, Poland’s objections are continuing to hold up files that ministers had hoped to agree on international development and human rights.
"We would have liked to have had Council Conclusions on some development cooperation related topics," says one senior EU diplomat.
"But then we have been blocked by Poland when it comes to language about gender, and the Gender Action Plan, where they seem to be wanting to turn the clock back."
The diplomat said Polish objections, often supported by Hungary, were not just on specific topics but were "across the board."
Poland's right-wing Law and Justice Party, in office since 2015, has waged a long campaign against LGBTQI rights.
Two diplomats said Poland was pushing to walk back language on gender to a more restrictive and binary application.
"They've come up with alternative language that deviates from the language that the EU has used for quite a while on issues like this," says one diplomat.
"And that's language that's much more conservative, much more restrictive, much more in line with the ideological thinking that we see with the ruling party in Warsaw."
It is understood Poland has been objecting to any language that refers to more than two genders, male and female.
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"Poland, with the help of Hungary, is trying to push their specific view on gender upon the rest of the member states that don't share this view," said the diplomat.
"And that's an issue, because most member states are not willing to go back in time. And that complicates things."
A Polish official told RTÉ News that this was a "very old issue" and that Poland simply wanted to stick to the language in the EU treaties, which refers to equality between men and women.
"We have always said we need to be very precise when it comes to language," said the official.
The spokesperson added that it was important to avoid ambiguity and translation problems when referring to equality issues.
