More children: desire and reality ” “

There’s no Eu summit or official meeting, no programmatic document or public debate in Europe that ignores the demographic prospects of the continent. The enlargement of the Union has led to a substantial growth in the total population; at the same time, the progressive average ageing of Europeans, and an overall stagnation of births, is being registered. And all this is being accompanied by high levels of unemployment, especially among the young. That’s why since 2005 the EU institutions have placed the problems that flow from current demographic trends at the top of the agenda. DEMOGRAPHY AND SOLIDARITY BETWEEN THE GENERATIONS. The European Commission will present a “Communication” on this question in March. It will follow up the debate triggered by the publication twelve months ago of the Green Paper “Tackling demographic changes, a new solidarity between the generations”. The discussion was taken up by the other EU institutions at the Hampton Court summit in October 2005, promoted by Tony Blair, then President of the European Council, and then pursued at the conference held in Stuttgart in November on “The demographic future of Europe”. The disturbing factors that have emerged in this phase include, not least, the decline in childbirth, which over the last thirty years has dropped below the threshold of “demographic replacement”. The statistics explain that every woman in the EU gives birth on average to 1.4 children, whereas the necessary level to maintain the population at a constant level would be approximately 2.1. Due to increased longevity, a marked “ageing” of the continent is simultaneously being registered. COMECE: EUROPEAN STRATEGY FOR THE FAMILY. Reactions and contributions to the Green Paper were offered, among others, by the European Trade Union Confederation (CES/ETUC) and by the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE). The European bishops published, at the end of their last plenary assembly in November, a document that called for a “European strategy for the family”. Applauding the initiative of the EU, it placed the emphasis on the ageing of the population, and on the need to reconcile the needs of the family nucleus with the professional life of spouses and support families with specific policies and projects. BECOMING PARENTS: HOPES AND PROBLEMS. “More than half of the people interviewed, men or women without any distinction, would like to have two or more children”. But often couples stop at one child, “due to concerns about the future and the costs of bringing up children”. Last week the Barroso Commission returned to the question, presenting a research project conducted as part of the Dialog project. The survey collected statistical evidence for some aspects of continental demography, in relation to the social, economic and cultural situation in the various EU countries. The 30,000 people interviewed, of fourteen nationalities, furnished data for the drafting of the “Communication”. Considerable differences were registered from one state to another: “In some countries such as Cyprus, Poland, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Hungary and the Netherlands there’s a gap between the real number of children and the number actually desired – says the final report of the survey -. In Germany, Italy, Austria, Belgium and the Czech Republic, on the other hand, the number of children desired is lower than two”. The researchers maintain that “the countries with a low number of desired children ought to implement policies in support of the family”: the possible option include policies aimed at providing financial support for childbirth, better services for families, consideration for family burdens, including the presence of the elderly, and flexible hours of work. A SINGLE APPROACH CANNOT WORK. One of the conclusions of the report on “reproductive behaviour in Europe” is: “Differences in the responses between one State and another on expectations regarding family policy show that a single approach cannot work. For example, the interviewees in the countries of Western Europe tend to be more in favour of a combination of financial support and flexible hours of work, while those of the countries of Eastern Europe prefer to reconcile full-time work and family life”. The “growing disaffection to the institution of marriage” and “the growth of cases of divorce are not necessarily translated into a lowering of births”. Births “in fact have enjoyed a decade of stability, with a number of children comprised between 1.2 and 1.4, and with a percentage of children born to unmarried women ranging between 30% and 40%”. The document says that “having children within a marriage remains however the preferred option, especially in the countries of southern and eastern Europe, with a percentage of consensus that rises to 80% in Italy, Lithuania and Poland”. The survey examines other socio-cultural aspects that may influence population and birth rate: the roles of each sex in the home and at work, the division of domestic tasks, the situation of the elderly and their family and social role. ———————————————————————————————————– Sir Europa (English) N.ro assoluto : 1454 N.ro relativo : 13 Data pubblicazione : 23/02/2006