The family at the centre” “” “

Restoring the family to the centre of EU policies; widening the debate within the institutions of the Union to give rise to a real strategy on this front, in close coordination with the social, as well as economic, objectives of the “Lisbon strategy”: these are the basic guidelines of the document “A family strategy for the European Union”, presented at the headquarters of COMECE (Commission of the episcopates of the European Community) in Brussels on Tuesday, 16 March. The bishops indicate six “global objectives”. Monsignor Noel Treanor, general secretary of Comece, and Stefan Lunte, close aide, explained the content of the document, which will be distributed both in Church circles and in the institutions of the EU. They were followed by an intervention from Jerome Vignon, director of Social Policy of the European Commission, who offered a first comment on the bishops’ document. After an introduction of sociological and political type, aimed at placing the situation of the family in its continental context (demographic decline, intergenerational relations, conditions of the elderly and children, problems of couples), the document lists six “global objectives” which are recommended to the attention of the Twenty-Five: improving the integration of the elderly in society through support to their families; promoting regulations and policies that are more just and more favourable to children; promoting measures relating to marriage and education of minors; fostering closer links between the generations; promoting the support of the State for families with particular needs; and supporting the associations that work for the protection of the family.A “cross-party strategy” for the family. “If it is true – says the document – that the existence of a strong human and social capital as conditio sine qua non for growth is an idea explored in the context of the Lisbon strategy, no significant mention is made of the family in the documents associated with this strategy, despite the fact that the family “is at the centre of social relations”. COMECE declares that EU policies in this field ought to focus on the promotion of more stable families and on “conditions that permit couples to have the number of children they wish”. This would have a positive impact “on another urgent political question for Europe: the downward trend of continental demography, to which the growth of the number of children per family would be a positive response”. The document backs up its arguments with references of statistical and sociological type, useful for describing the situation of families in the countries of the EU today. The “strategy” outlined by COMECE emphasises that the family can be at the basis of the prosperity of its individual members, including parents, children and the elderly. “An authoritative and concrete contribution”. For all these reasons, the European bishops urge the European Union to implement policies in support of the family, so that “the family may be a foundation and in turn a support for Europe”. On the other hand, COMECE underlines the need to foster the bonds of couples based on marriage. It also refers to the recent report of Caritas Europe (SIR 12/2004), which specified various problems that are complicating the life of families in EU countries today: a situation that could be further aggravated with the enlargement to Eastern Europe. A first comment on the COMECE document was furnished by Jerome Vignon, director for Social Policy of the European Commission. “This document – he said – does not start out from the doctrine of the Church, but bases its observations on a careful analysis of the current situation and underlines the problems that most directly affect families today. It also offers an interpretation and makes concrete proposals”. Vignon spoke of “families in precarious conditions”, their “vulnerable” situation, to which “cross-party” attention needs to be devoted in the field of Community policies. Vignon also pointed out that “the plurality of views on the concept itself of the family in the 25 countries of the Union cannot be forgotten”, so that it “would be more appropriate to speak of families or family models”. But “it’s right that the Church, with her moral authority”, should make her voice heard and make “clear recommendations in this field”. In the spirit of the “structured dialogue between Church and EU”, Vignon lastly expressed “the hope that this document would be considered a useful and constructive contribution to the process of drafting the European Constitution now underway in the Union”. The Comece secretariat, for its part, said it was “willing to enter into an open debate with the EU institutions on the document and the issues it raises”.