How to stem the decline?

Family, birth rate, solidarity between the generations, role of the elderly in society, immigration: the debate on the “demographic question” is gaining a new lease of life in the European Union. The EU institutions seem to realise that these are crucial issues for the future of the continent, and are of immediate relevance for social policies, the economy, services to the person and social security systems. THE STAGES OF THE DEBATE. On this question the European bishops have made an authoritative appeal to the EU: COMECE (Commission of the episcopates of the European Community) was responsible for the document “A family strategy for the EU”, issued in the run up to EU enlargement in the spring of 2004. In March 2005 the European Commission followed suit by publishing its Green Paper on “A new solidarity between the generations in response to demographic changes”, with which it inaugurated a debate among the 25 and opened the way to the summit at Hampton Court. TONY BLAIR , premier of the United Kingdom, and President of the European Council in the second half of 2005, appealed to the heads of state and of government to reflect on the “European social model”, one of the mainstays of European integration, and on demography, also “in relation to the implementation of the Lisbon Strategy” (competitiveness, employment, social cohesion). INCENTIVES AGAINST THE DECLINE. The Green Paper published by the Executive headed by JOSÉ MANUEL BARROSO reports: “Demographic changes of unprecedented scale and gravity are being registered in Europe at the present time. In 2003 the natural increase of the population in Europe was limited to 0.04% on an annual basis, and the new member states, with the exception of Cyprus and Malta, even registered a demographic decline. In many countries the contribution of immigration was indispensable to guarantee a growth of the population. The birth rate is almost everywhere below the threshold of generational replacement (approximately 2.1 children per woman)”; “European citizens don’t have the number of children they desire”. “If Europe wishes to reverse the trend of demographic decline, it must offer families greater incentives with public policies that enable women and men to reconcile family and professional life”. PROPOSALS OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT. In response to the Green Paper, a document has finally been voted by the European Parliament in Brussels in its session in March 2006. Its title is in itself significant: “Demographic challenges: promoting families and the birth rate”. The report drafted by the English MEP PHILIP BUSHILL-MATTHEWS , asks that “the obstacles to the protection of the family be removed”, also to increase the birth rate. Working life also needs to be prolonged, while at the same time “developing adequate supplementary pension regimes and promoting flexible hours of work”, without ignoring a “policy of balanced immigration”. The document defines some fixed principles round which the debate in the European Union ought to revolve. It enjoyed the support of a large majority of MEPs: almost all the political groups voted in favour: 448 “yes” votes, against 70 “no” and 22 abstentions. EUROPEAN SOCIAL MODEL. The Bushill-Matthews Report declares that “demographic change and its repercussions on society are of fundamental importance for the future of member states and the Union”. So, in a Europe characterised by widespread decline in the birth rate, economic growth “can only be guaranteed through financial measures aimed at raising the employment rate, innovation and the improvement of productivity, as well as through the modernization of systems of social protection”. In view of the disparities between member states, moreover, the Parliament proposes “a diversified approach, depending on regions and sub-regions within each country”. This means returning to some traditional mainstays of the “European model” laboriously – and partially – realized in half a century of Community history. According to the Parliament, it is “in the interest of society as a whole to create favourable conditions to enable couples to have the number of children they desire”. The decision of families to limit the number of children or defer their birth – according to the Report – responds not to a free choice, “but to a forced preference, imposed by the difficulty of reconciling professional work and private family life”. This conclusion leads to a series of ideas that need to be followed up: ideas to reconcile home and work: pro-family tax policies; the provision of incentives for structures of services to childhood; and the restoration of a full social role to the elderly. A number of recommendations follow, to guarantee specific protection and support to women, after childbirth, and especially to unmarried mothers; improve welfare systems; and develop immigration policies “aimed at promoting the economic, social and legal integration” of workers and their families.