"An increasingly old, tired and withdrawn Europe", where "the decrease in marriage rates, the rise in the number of children born outside marriage and the rise in divorce rates confirm the gradual coming apart of an uncertain, confused society". This, according to a report from Centro internazionale studi famiglia (Cisf), opening the issue of Sir Europa, online from tonight at old.agensir.it, is the picture shown by the Report on the "Evolution of the family in Europe 2008", published a few days ago by the "European Network" of "Istituto di politica familiare" (Ipf), which is summarised below. Cisf defines the proposals put forward by the Report as "largely shared, effective and inspired by the basic idea that the family is and must remain an irreplaceable resource for society", but warns that "we must be cautious when we hope to harmonise the European family policies: good intentions might hide the attempted pushiness of the EU, which lately has been more worried about gender issues than the actual needs of the family". According to Cisf, "political will" and "a human and ethical vision that can make the real value of the stakes understood" are what it takes now.
