COFACE Families Europe together with its members is very active in addressing the social challenges faced by families of today and advocating for policies to support their well-being.

In 2019, COFACE Families Europe mobilised voters locally through its member organisations (representing families of all types, without discrimination). A call was launched to the COFACE network to vote and speak out in May 2019 using 10 key values as a compass: non-discrimination, equal opportunities, empowerment, internet for all, social inclusion, sustainability, respect of human rights, solidarity, child well-being, accessibility. Following the election of the new European Parliament and the publication of the European Commission’s political guidelines, COFACE Families Europe published its New Deal for Families of Today which is a list of key short-term demands (also available in Easy-to-Read language) to be achieved by the new European Commission from 2020-2024, which are to be seen as concrete steps to meet the long-term goals of the European Pillar of Social Rights and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

These demands reflect the needs and challenges of families of today and call for a mix of European actions (policy, law, funding, benchmarking, innovation) to drive real change. These recommendations are addressed at EU-level policymakers in the European Commission, European Parliament and Council of the EU, from whom we expect joint leadership to ensure tangible results for Europe’s citizens.  It is on this basis that we have assessed  the European Union’s work from 2019 to 2024, and how it contributes to achieving eight positive outcomes for families of today (see more here). While this assessment refers to various initiatives to support families, it cannot fully assess the real impact on families at local level yet. It is crucial for the EU institutions to conduct monitoring and evaluation of their policies to understand the impacts (positive and negative) on families, in order to review and consolidate existing frameworks under the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan and adopt any new measures needed to strengthen the Pillars.

Read the full assessment here.

See the 10 key actions we want integrated into the EU’s 2024-2029 programme here.

The post State Of The European Union for Families: COFACE assessment of the European Union’s work from 2019-2024 appeared first on COFACE Families Europe.

COFACE Families Europe together with its members is very active in addressing the social challenges faced by families of today and advocating for policies to support their well-being.

Civil society and rights-holders must be supported through sustained funding and life-long learning opportunities to engage meaningfully in the national and European policy-making processes in order to co-create systems and policies needed to support families of today.  They are best placed to provide inputs and feedback on the policies which concern them.

COFACE has the ambition to shape together a strong social Europe fit for families and foster a European society that is more inclusive, offers equal opportunities and brings everyone forward.

In preparation of the next European elections on 6-9^th June 2024, here are ten specific actions we would like to see integrated in the programme of the European Union.

These need to be developed within an economic framework which works better for society and planet towards an economy which cares.

It is time to act now for families of today.

Read our full Call-to-Action here.

Easy-to-Read version also available here.

The post ACT NOW FOR FAMILIES OF TODAY appeared first on COFACE Families Europe.

OPEN LETTER CALLING FOR SUPPORT TO FAMILIES IN NEED.
Brussels, 21st March 2022

COFACE Families Europe stands with Ukraine and strongly condemns the military aggression of the Russian Federation

COFACE Families Europe is deeply concerned about the escalating situation in Ukraine and the consequences for the people of Ukraine: families are separated, and children, with or without their parents, find themselves in different communities across Europe. More than 3 million refugees have fled Ukraine since Russia launched its unprovoked invasion, according to UN refugee agency data on 20^th March 2022. Already more than 109 children were killed and many more injured during this war. Through its illegal military actions, Russia is blatantly violating international law and United Nations conventions and is undermining European and global security and stability. Moreover, the targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure is a crime.

Many COFACE members are involved in running programmes for the inclusion of refugees, delivering social, housing, education supports needed to welcome families in host communities in the EU. They are mobilising resources as more and more refugees are crossing the borders to neighbouring countries. COFACE is also receiving reports from Ukrainian organisations, especially supporting families of children and persons with disabilities. Some have managed to flee, but many are still in Ukraine for different reasons:  lack of information in an accessible format, absence of transport, lack of adapted solutions for persons with severe physical impairments. They face the risk of being left behind. These families are in dire need of a wide range of critical services, food, hygiene products, medicines.

CALL

We call on EU leaders to focus on five main priorities:

Ensuring that the support reaches all families in Ukraine who need it. This will require a reinforcement of EU efforts and diplomacy, as well as using different resources including the European Commission’s solidarity platform, but also connecting the dots and building partnerships with organisations on the ground to ensure mobile units fully reach those who are in need of urgent help.

Treat all refugees equally without discrimination.  All people fleeing Ukraine must be treated with dignity and allowed to cross the border, regardless of nationality, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, or any other background. The same standards of protection should be applied to all persons with the same level of protection needs.

Support civil society efforts through effective European coordination. Countries bordering and close to Ukraine especially need support through effective coordination of the refugee flow, through the involvement of all EU Member States. This also goes through channeling of funds to strengthen the capacity of civil society organisations, including COFACE members, to deliver critical and emergency support in EU countries.

Urgent need for mental and psychological support for children and their families. People fleeing the war are especially mothers and children, and they have suffered multiple shocks – from the killing of their relatives to seeing their life and families fall apart – with negative impacts on their mental and physical well-being. These people require urgent help to rebuild their lives. Sometimes the only possibility to help them is through Ukrainian/Russian-language services – where these are developed as in Lithuania and Latvia, these services should be boosted. In general, we must be careful about not stigmatising Russian-speaking families and refugees.

Put in place long-term solutions for the resilience of families. This is an escalating crisis which NGOs in the COFACE network are mobilising around in the short-term to support families especially in EU countries. But governments must start now to put in place sustainable mid-term and long-term solutions to ensure a smooth transition for the inclusion of refugees. This includes starter packs with access to protection, employment, education (including early childhood education and care), healthcare, digital infrastructure to allow for distance learning of Ukrainian children, family reunification processes, sustainable funding streams to NGOs coordinating inclusion processes, and a consolidation of policies to support families in Europe.

This new crisis shows again that it is by consolidating family support systems, based on a mix of resources, services, and leaves which are accessible to all families without discrimination, that the European Union will be resilient and strong enough to absorb shocks.

________________

For more information please contact info@coface-eu.org.

The post OPEN LETTER: COFACE Families Europe stands with Ukraine appeared first on COFACE Families Europe.

2024 European elections

The 2024 European Parliament election is scheduled to be held on 6 to 9 June 2024. This will be the tenth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979.

How to vote

Choose your country of voting and your preferred language to find out how to vote. As an EU citizen, you can vote in your country of origin, from abroad or in the EU country you live in. Please note that registration might be required in order to vote. Click here to find out how to vote and find information in an accessible easy-to-read format, and see more information below about how the EU works and what the EU does for you.

What COFACE Families Europe wants.

In 2019, COFACE Families Europe mobilised voters locally through its member organisations (representing families of all types, without discrimination). We launched a call to the network to vote and speak out in May 2019 using 10 key values as a compass.

Non-discrimination: A Europe recognising all family forms.
Accessibility: A Europe that promotes participation of persons with disabilities and their families in all areas of life.
Child well-being: A Europe which invests in the health and education of children.
Solidarity: A Europe which promotes intergenerational solidarity, with full support and recognition of the role of family carers.
Respect of human rights: A Europe which advances the rights of ALL families and their members.
Equal opportunities: A Europe which believes in equality between women and men, as a cornerstone for achieving reconciliation between family and professional life.
Empowerment: A Europe which gives a voice to ALL families to act as citizens, worker and consumers with strong support for national and European civil society organisation.
Internet for all: A Europe which harnesses the transformative potential of technology.
Social inclusion: A Europe which tackles poverty and social exclusion of families and their members, through access to resources and community-based services.
Sustainability: A Europe which wants to make the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals a reality.

 

Following the election of the new European Parliament, COFACE Families Europe published a list of key short-term demands (also available in Easy-to-Read language) to be achieved by the new European Commission from 2020-2024, which are to be seen as concrete steps to meet the long-term goals of the European Pillar of Social Rights and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

They reflect the needs and challenges of families of today and call for a mix of European actions (policy, law, funding, benchmarking, innovation) to drive real change.

On 15th May 2024, COFACE Families launched its “State Of The European Union for families” assessment of the last 5-year mandate of the von der Leyen Commission and how it contributed to achieving eight specific outcomes for families. We also presented our #ActNow for Families of Today call to action, which comprises 10 specific actions that COFACE believe should be integrated into the EU’s 2024-2029 programme. Also available in Easy-to-read version here.

#AllFamiliesSpeakOut

What the EU does for you

What the EU does for you

The European elections are coming up in June 2024. In this section, we collect links to show what the EU has done for you, your country, region or field of interest.

Read More

Dec 20, 2018 | 2 min read

#AllFamiliesSpeakOut

How the EU works

How the EU works

The European elections are coming up in June 2024. In this section, we collect links that explain how the different EU institutions function and give some historic background.

Read More

Dec 20, 2018 | 3 min read

#AllFamiliesSpeakOut

Call to Action – 10 principles as a compass

Call to Action – 10 principles as a compass

We launched a call to our European network and to friends to vote in May 2019 using 10 key principles as a compass. #AllFamiliesSpeakOut

Read More

Mar 25, 2019 | 1 min read

The post European Elections: #AllFamiliesSpeakOut appeared first on COFACE Families Europe.

Brussels, 7th March 2021

First impressions by Elizabeth Gosme, Director of COFACE Families Europe

Twenty principles, three headline 2030 targets, a revised EU Social Scoreboard, a clear timeline of initiatives, and a shared political commitment and responsibility from European to local level. Using the COFACE recommendations as a benchmark, here below are my first impressions on the  European Pillar of Social Rights action plan published on 4th March 2021.

1.Two-generation approach to policy-making.

The interrelated well-being of children and their parents is reflected to a great extent in the action plan. Different types of family supports are referred to, directed at children and their parents: work-life balance measures which will have a strong social and economic impact, investment in early childhood education and care (ECEC), poverty reduction with an explicit target also on child poverty, as well as the upcoming Child Guarantee (in the form of a Council recommendation later this month). I am looking forward to the full EU work-life balance directive transposition (by August 2024, but hopefully well before); the revised Barcelona targets on ECEC in 2022; the implementation of the new indicator on the At-risk-of-poverty rate or exclusion for children (0—17) in the EU Social scoreboard; and finally the allocation of European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) resources to combat poverty including child poverty, even if it is a binding measure for only a select number of countries with higher child poverty rates. The Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027, launched separately to the Pillar yet strongly linked to the 2030 Social Pillar targets (“at least 80% of those aged 16-74 should have basic digital skills”), will be useful to bridge the digital divide for all generations, prevent further digital deprivation and empower digital citizens to ensure human rights are implemented online – something COFACE has been advocating for over 10 years.

2.Automatic social rights for families in vulnerable situations.

There was a call from some stakeholders to mainstream family policy across the action plan, and this has been done to a great extent, acknowledging also the importance of families as first social safety nets. The needs of families have been considered from birth to old age, and in many cases actions are based on an intergenerational approach. Families with children require automatic rights like access to family benefits, ECEC and flexible working, many of which are (sub)national public responsibilities. However, local measures can be backed by sound legislative and non-legislative EU frameworks, like the upcoming EU Child Guarantee targeting poorer families and children via a series of instruments and guidelines for all EU countries. Vulnerable situations occur during different life transitions, including in old age, which also requires automatic social rights for older persons to receive the health and social support they need, but also acknowledging the family members who support and/or care for them in the absence of adequate social protection systems. Family carers are recognised in the Pillar action plan, and we look forward to initiatives to boost automatic social protection rights for them as well. The Commission’s plan to map best practices in providing pension rights for care-related career breaks in pension schemes and promote the exchange of practices, as well as the upcoming initiative on Long-term care in 2022, must support the reforms urgently needed to support family carers.

3.Use real-time evidence provided by civil society.

The length of the EU public consultation on the Pillar action plan was extensive lasting nearly a year, allowing for many responses, including many contributions from civil society (local to international). The Staff Working Document in the Pillar action plan provides a useful overview. COFACE Families Europe waited until November 2020 to submit its response in order to take into account the latest feedback from its network on challenges for families, the impact of COVID-19, and to include the 2030 Child Compass launched on World Children’s Day (20th November) calling for family policy-makers to think beyond social policy when developing measures to address child and family well-being. There is a huge diversity in the civil society organisations heard in the consultation, including networks of NGOs (representing families and family support providers like COFACE), social economy players, public authorities, businesses, trade unions, to highlight but a few. A full understanding of the nature and strengths of different civil society networks is essential to understand the positions of each and how they can contribute to the implementation of the Pillar. The European Commission has acknowledged several COFACE recommendations (most of which have emerged through COFACE expert groups and statutory meetings), including on indicators. First the need to measure the number of hours spent by children in childcare, on top of enrolment in childcare, since access to childcare is not always full-time and even less for children with disabilities. Secondly, the recommendation to develop complementary (sub)indicators on work-life balance in the EU Social Scoreboard. I think EU policy-makers are fully aware that such participatory methods to co-shape the action plan must be sustained up until 2030 and beyond to ensure full implementation of the Social Pillar.

4.Monitoring, reporting and impact measurement.

There are some clear figures to be used as 2021 benchmarks to measure progress in 2025 of the targets set out in the action plan. COFACE will especially monitor the targets relating to halving the gender employment gap (although hoping that most countries will close the gap entirely), and increasing provision of ECEC to contribute to reconciliation between professional and private life, to supporting stronger female labour market participation, and also and especially to support healthy early childhood development (which is not explicitly stated in the action plan). However, given that the care responsibilities of families are not only for children (including children with special needs), but increasingly for the ageing population, a complementary target to boost professional care and family carers would have better reflected societal needs today, in line with the Commission’s Ageing Green paper. The Commission and the Social Protection Committee plan to map out areas in which further work is needed to ensure equal access to quality and affordable long-term care across the Union – it will be essential that in the transition to more performing social protection systems, family carers be socially recognised and supported adequately through access to a mix of rights (respite, financial compensation, adequately paid leaves from work, pension rights). Such investments would also help prevent further poverty and exclusion, potentially contributing to a stronger result than the Pillar action plan tentative ambition of a 15 million reduction of people at risk of poverty by 2030.

5.Concrete and priority actions to trigger real change.

The action plan has prioritised targets on employment, skills and tackling poverty, which broadly cover the 20 principles; while also developing a multitude of sub-actions which will be monitored closely by different EU civil society networks, and making links to other EU strategies relevant for social rights implementation. COFACE will be in a position to monitor closely the EU Gender equality strategy and Disability Rights Strategy, and to assess the impact of the future Council Recommendation establishing the European Child Guarantee, as well as the initiative on Long-Term Care to be proposed in 2022 to kick off policy reforms for more sustainable, affordable and quality services, including support to family carers. This was called for by many respondent organisations to the 2020 public consultation, highlighting the lack of adequate care leaves or systems to support informal carers, often women. Concrete actions also include various good practice measures taken by public authorities such as Belgium improving or creating family-related leaves for the self-employed (maternity leaves, paternity leaves, foster parent leaves); the use of the ESF by Lithuania to provide integrated social care and nursing services at home for older people or people with disabilities, including children; the use of the ESF by Croatia to enhance social protection of informal carers by redefining their status, reviewing the policy framework for long-term care services and implementing a new social benefit for informal care delivered at home; and the commitment of the city of Ljubljana to continue investing in family supports of different types (accessible childcare, schemes of parental rights and cash benefits, co-financing programmes of NGOs to provide out-of-school activities). The identification of specific examples of social rights implementation like the ones above are extremely helpful to replicate and upscale similar approaches across countries.

6.COVID-proofing and ensuring recovery policies fully respect social rights.

The action plan includes the intention of the European Commission to propose a Council Recommendation on minimum income in 2022 to effectively support and complement the policies of Member States – which will be useful leadership to trigger appropriate reforms, but will not be enough to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on families. The work in progress to adopt by end 2021 a delegated act to define a methodology for reporting on social expenditure under the Recovery and Resilience Facility will be essential to ensure the recovery is in line with the 20 principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights. The 2030 headline targets are deemed ambitious and realistic by the European Commission, in line with the most recent economic forecasts and the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, highlighting that “the pandemic and its consequences on our societies and economies does not allow to predict fully the progression expected in the coming years”. But given the magnitude of the post COVID-19 challenge, and the huge efforts of mobilisation by the EU and its Member States, this crisis must be an opportunity for a political shift away from social policy dependence on economic forecasts, towards a European social policy that drives economic policy objectives towards a balance of growth and well-being through sound long-term public investments. This is not reflected in the Pillar action plan, but COFACE will continue to build bridges between social, economic and finance stakeholders, as will be the case on the 21st April 2021 during our webinar on unlocking new economic thinking for a sustainable future.

7.Upscale NGO-driven good practices through European networks.

The freshly adopted ESF+ (earlier this year), with EUR 88 billion from 2021-2027, will continue to be the EU’s main financial instrument to support the implementation of the Social Pillar. According to the ESF+ regulation, Member States must dedicate an appropriate amount to the capacity building of social partners and civil society organisations: 0.25% of ESF+ resources should be programmed when Member States have a country-specific recommendation (CSR) in this area. I hope that ESF+ authorities will use this opportunity to award operational grants to civil society organisations representing or supporting families, to give them the human resources needed to engage actively in policy and funding processes linked to the implementation of the Social Pillar. While the Employment and Social Innovation Programme (EaSI – now integrated in the ESF+) continues to help national authorities, social partners, civil society and other relevant actors to organise communication and engagement activities by collecting and exchanging the best practices across Europe – COFACE does this in various ways, including through its freshly launched European Family Lab. The EaSi-funded networks of course do much more than good practice transfer: they build capacity of their members to understand the European Pillar of Social Rights, build consensus across countries to have a strong voice in the EU policy/legal discussions, address common challenges like COVID-19, strengthen the civil society sector essential for European democracies, boost cross-country transfers of knowledge and innovation, maximise use of data for evidence-based policy systems.

8.Develop and consolidate EU legal frameworks with a social impact.

The Social Pillar can have a huge impact on society and the economy via non-legislative frameworks with strong operational guidance for governments, which we hope to see in the upcoming Child Guarantee as a key channel to help reduce family poverty. But legislative frameworks based on the European Treaties are also essential and have already been put forward, like the Directive on Work-Life Balance which entered into force in August 2019 with 3 years for transposition (plus two extra years for some specific provisions). This is one of the pieces of legislation supported actively by COFACE from 2017 to 2019, introducing minimum standards for family leaves and flexible working arrangements for workers with caring responsibilities, and promoting their equal take-up by women and men. Even before its adoption in 2019, this directive led to reforms across countries, and now in this transposition phase COFACE is pushing for upward reforms beyond the minimum standards of the directive. The European Parliament, ETUC and several countries, are now calling for a regulatory framework on the ‘right to disconnect’ to take into account the major telework developments in the last year. This has been acknowledged in the Pillar action plan, but is being left to the social partners to negotiate. Is the Autonomous Framework Agreement on Digitalisation adopted by the social partners in 2020 enough to ensure workers can exercise their right to disconnect from increasingly digital workplaces? Only time will tell.

9.Think beyond social and employment policy. 

Annex 1 of the action plan shows a multitude of EU frameworks and initiatives, which is quite overwhelming and confusing to read. Yet if all these frameworks are monitored and coordinated under the leadership of President von der Leyen herself, they should be complementary creating implementation dynamics in a wide range of fields linked to the 20 pillar principles. As stated in the Staff Working Document COFACE, together with other stakeholders, argues that social and employment policies can only be successful if there is consistency with wider economic, budgetary and fiscal policies. While the action plan mentions that the European Semester will allow for a coordinated monitoring of the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Plans to ensure they invest in policies “for the next generation, children and the youth, such as education and skills” (the sixth pillar of the RRF), consistency is also needed with initiatives in other areas. The action plan mentions an upcoming report in 2022 on access to essential services – this will surely need to include information on access to basic financial services, consumer credit, access to internet and digital infrastructure, also considering the links between digital deprivation and severe material deprivation. There is no mention of the Digital Services Act proposed in December 2020 to boost inter alia  effective protection of users’ fundamental rights online; but the action plan does mention an upcoming “2030 Digital Decade” initiative, as well as a white paper on artificial intelligence planned for later this year, which would focus among other things on redirecting algorithmic decision-making toward the promotion of human rights. The action plan also mentions the various measures which are part or linked to the recently launched Renovation Wave initiative in 2020, including a Commission recommendation on energy poverty, the revision the Energy Efficiency Directive, and the launch later this year of an Affordable Housing Initiative piloting 100 renovation districts.

In conclusion, this renewed Social Pillar package undoubtedly provides a strong EU ecosystem for national governments and stakeholders to implement social rights in their communities, and to engage COFACE civil society leaders across Europe. All in all, it’s a great effort and national governments should use this framework as guidance to urgently trigger the reforms needed, where this is not already the case.

The post European Pillar of Social Rights action plan: turning principles into action appeared first on COFACE Families Europe.

Most recently, Commission President von der Leyen used her State of the European Union to underline her support for the LGBTIQ* community and the recognition of rainbow families. But the strong statement could end up as damp squib. The opposition is strong and possible allies are still too calm.

“If you are a parent in one country, you are – of course – a parent in every country!” For this little sentence, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently received great applause in plenary, during her State of the European Union. It seems to be a platitude if you do not know the context. However, for the LGBTIQ* community, von der Leyen’s statement was just historic.

But why? Von der Leyen repeated her clear stance on equality in the Union, where “you can be who you are and love who you want”. She condemned “LGBTIQ* free zones” (which popped up in around 100 Polish municipalities within the last year) as inhuman and called for mutual recognition of family relations in the EU. It is the first time ever that a Commission President supports explicitly lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex and queer people and their children – meaning rainbow families.

This is good because a vulnerable minority gets some positive attention. And it is bad because it reveals the necessity for such comments on a topic that should be taken for granted already for a long time. At least in the EU. The Fundamental Rights Charter from 2009 states the non-discrimination on any ground and adds words such as “sex”, “genetic features” and “sexual orientation”. And everybody has “the right to respect for his or her private and family life”. Unfortunately, this is still a nicely meant request, but – especially right now – far away from reality.

Let’s take a closer look to Poland. Here, LGBTIQ* rights have become a big cultural issue. In the eyes of Kaczynski’s PiS party and the Catholic Church, those rights are a “threat to society” and against traditional Polish families and values (October 2019). President Duda echoed in July 2020, it should be written down in the constitution that “anyone in a same-sex relationship is forbidden from adopting a child”. Similar sounds come from Hungary where Prime Minister Orbán bashed Western Europe in August for its “experiments with a godless cosmos, rainbow families, migration and open societies”. Terrifyingly, those words are still quite successful in election campaigns. LGBTIQ* (family) rights* stand for something evil, strange and – thanks to xenophobia – primal fears emerge. And, as usual, they are not anymore essential for surviving, but they benefit the populists.

In contrast, there is an increasing acceptance of LGBTIQ* people, their relationships and their efforts to become parents – in that precise order. Scientific research backs this development in impressive clarity: children in rainbow families are fine! However, laws and regulations often lag behind. As family matters are mostly Member States’ competence, we see nowadays a patchwork situation in the EU when it comes to LGBTIQ* rights. There are still six countries without any legal recognition for same-sex couples (Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia) and a range of states haven’t (yet) established adequate legal familial ties between LGBTIQ* people and their (non-biological) children or do not allow same-sex couples to adopt and foster children jointly.

Lacking or differing regulations on national level cause cross-border struggles. Let’s take an example: A lesbian couple become parents through assisted insemination in Spain or Belgium – no problem at all. They will be directly recognised as mothers, both women appear on the birth certificate. However, if this family moves, i.e. to Germany or France, the legal ties will cease to exist because the domestic laws don’t know automatic same-sex co-parenthood. The non-biological parents will need to undergo a stepchild adoption. In many other countries, there is no recognition at all. In Bulgaria, Cyprus or the Czech Republic, children just lose one of their legal parents forever. In unfortunate circumstances, new-born children even remain stateless, at least for a while. NELFA has a list of cases that reveals many dramatic situations. And the non-recognition of rainbow families is constantly justified with the “public order” or “traditions”. But I ask back: Is it a value to simply cut off familial ties between children and their loving and caring mothers and fathers?

A Directive from 2004 require Members States to ensure the free movement of EU citizens and their “family members”. But it is unclear if LGBTIQ* people and their offspring fall under these provisions. It took years to get a clarification from the European Court of Justice that the term “spouse” includes people of the same sex (Coman 2018). NELFA and its allies try to raise awareness of those struggles and in the meantime, there is a closer dialogue in Brussels about possible legislative measures. However, the Commission remains reserved. They know that those measures need, at the end, unanimity in the Council of the EU – meaning a YES of countries like Poland and Hungary to LGBTIQ* rights. But this seems to be impossible. Von der Leyen’s statement could end up as damp squib.

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**DISCLAIMER: All opinions in this article reflect the views of the author, not of COFACE Families Europe**

About the author:

Björn Sieverding is Board member of NELFA, the Network of European LGBTIQ* Families Associations. Since 2016, he takes part in international conferences, holds workshops and key speeches about rainbow families all over Europe. Three years in a row, Björn managed NELFA’s successful Erasmus+ projects. He is also responsible for the Network’s communication (website, newsletter, social media and press releases). From 2019 to 2020, Björn was elected Vice President.

Photo by Prachatai under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license

The post OPINION: Family diversity in the EU – a call for more respect! appeared first on COFACE Families Europe.

For years, the European Union has struggled to overcome accusations of crises, malfunctioning or bureaucracy. One of its worst climaxes was during the Brexit referendum. Tons of Eurosceptic messages coined the public debate on the island which ultimately led, as we sadly know, to the UK leaving the EU. But people in other countries affected by low economic growth and financial crisis have also been viewing the Union from a simplified perspective and talking about it in a mode of discontentment. Why is it so hard for the European Union to connect with its citizens?

Many blame the critical sentiments on a lack of effective communication on the benefits of Europe, leading to a growing detachment between the Brussels-based EU and its citizens. Indeed, it is undeniable that Brussels is a bubble and the felt reality in it differs from the local and regional realities in Europe. But an explanation like this is not an excuse and, even if closing the communication gap might seem like a Herculean task, it is time to tackle it properly.

In the last years, acknowledgment of the problem was made. In 2006 the European Commission published a white paper on a European communication policy which highlights that “Europe’s communication with its citizens has not kept pace” but that “communication is essential to a healthy democracy.” Ten years on, with the shocking results of the Brexit referendum in the back of everyone’s minds, European Heads of States and Governments turned again towards communication, emphasizing the “need to improve the communication […] most importantly with our citizens” in the Declaration of Bratislava.

Easier said than done. One of the main problems, which has not changed in the last decade, is a missing common European public sphere. This is easily explained due to three phenomena – firstly, the news coming from Brussels is filtered through a national lens for a national audience which has never really learned to think and debate “European”. National journalists creating the news in Brussels are from national media broadcasters (with a few exceptions) and are in conversation mainly with their national politicians who have the task of representing all of Europe but in reality focus on communicating to their national audience in order to get re-elected.

Secondly, direct communication, which means from Brussels to citizens without an intermediary person like a journalist, has always been a challenge due to the difference in perceptions. Brussels-based people working in the EU bubble are usually rational with quite some technical insight into how the EU is working. Their rational communication clashes with those of the outsiders, who are much more moved emotionally and, with already negative preconception of Europe in mind, are more receptive to clear, easy messaging which supports their preconceptions. For the Brussels communicators this means to talk a language which they have never spoken before and using tools which they have no instructions for.

The last catalyst for the difficulties in establishing effective communication to Europe’s citizens is the digital and technological change. No longer do we have a public sphere as originally introduced by German philosopher Jürgen Habermas who described it as a vibrant realm where anyone can come together and have a critical debate on public matters. He saw the public sphere as a necessary force in the functioning of a modern democracy because only through a well-informed public and public debate can democracy be valid and survive. Thus communication and a functioning democracy are closely connected. However, nowadays the public sphere has (partly) shifted into a digital one with new phenomena, like filter bubbles, and new players, such as Facebook, which Habermas had not foreseen and which the EU has yet to catch up on.

Social media companies and disinformation have started to shape the debates in the public spheres in Europe. We have seen the negative influence in the presidential elections in the USA and during the Brexit referendum in the UK. Research on the European Elections has shown only a minimum of interference. However, we shouldn’t celebrate too early but acknowledge and act upon the threats of the new players. So far Europe has put their hands in their laps and watched others, often foreign powers, determine our public debates. For more many years, a fake online media outlet called EP Today claiming to be the “monthly news magazine for the European Parliament” featured almost only articles which were exact copies of Russian Today articles. As recently exposed by EU’s East SratCom Task Force the magazine tried to create the impression of an EP-run platform in order to influence and mislead readers. To fight such disinformation Europe needs a strong vision on what kind of digital world we want to live in and then fight for it to keep our communication and democracy safe.

So let’s put communication on the top of the priorities and not let others decide with their disinformation what we see, debate, believe, and vote for, it is about the fate of European democracy. The next chance to shape this will be the Conference of the Future of Europe, where all institutions together with civil society will be discussing and hopefully creating clear objectives on how to reach citizens and fight disinformation. Already Hannah Arendt warned Europe “if everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer.”

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**DISCLAIMER: All opinions in this article reflect the views of the author, not of COFACE Families Europe**

About the author:

Isabell Wutz is the Communication Officer at COFACE Families Europe working on development and implementation of online and offline communication strategies for EU projects, campaigns and events. She holds a Master’s Degree in Art, Media and Society from the University of Tilburg (Netherlands). She has gained experience in the private sector, different civil society organisations as well as the European Parliament.

The post OPINION: Why is Europe having trouble communicating with its citizens? appeared first on COFACE Families Europe.

Today’s world is complex and new technologies offer unprecedented progress and change our way of work and life patterns rapidly. Like many parents I am excited about the opportunities on offer today. At the same time I feel there is much to worry about when it comes to raising children in this fast changing environment. We live in a society which pays enormous attention to economic growth and the wellbeing of our economy. Mass consumerism and adver-teasing continues to influence children’s values, beliefs and health. Parents and society must be aware and stand up to defend the best interest of children. Isn’t it time to establish an economic thinking that enables us to achieve an economy which cares about the wellbeing of people and works for the benefit of society?

The Economist Kate Raworth has written well about this. In her “Doughnut economics” she reframes the economy and invites us to enter an economic framework which she calls “doughnut.” She depicts the economy as a doughnut and designs two concentric circles wherein a society has to stay and to develop. The doughnut’s inner ring – its social foundation of human rights – sets out the basics of life on which no one should be left falling short. Those basics include food, water, energy, education, healthcare, housing, decent work. Below the inner ring there lie shortfalls in human wellbeing, faced by people in our society who are left behind. Those people are usually lacking food, education, income and rights.

The doughnut’s outer ring – the ecological ceiling – sets out the planetary boundaries as warning signs in the field of climate change, biodiversity loss, chemical pollution and air pollution. If we go beyond the outer ring of the doughnut, the ecological boundaries, we are putting pressure on the planet and destroying it.The ecologically safe and socially just space for humanity lies in between the two rings of the doughnut.

Raworth’s compelling vision is a great starting point of a shift in economic thinking, away from the endless GDP growth which is needed to pave the way for an economy which cares for the wellbeing of people. The doughnut economics offer us an alternative roadmap, an economic model that meets the needs of all within the means of the planet. It is clear that today we are far out of balance transgressing both sides of the doughnut. Therefore we need to further explore this innovative vision and the ways to make it come true. For me, the implementation of the doughnut economy must go hand in hand with strong social policies to ensure all families, without discrimination, have access to sufficient resources, care services and time.

All over the world, families are the primary caregivers. Ideally, the care provision, may it be child or elderly care, should be balanced between the families, the state, the market and the non-for-profit sector. But reality shows clearly that families are under huge pressure as they carry out the bulk of care work (UN Women 2019-2020). Within families, women bear a disproportionate burden of this care (Eige 2019). Worldwide women and girls spend 12,5 billion hours a day in unpaid care work. This “hidden engine” of the world economy keeps our families, societies and markets going and represents an invisible contribution to the world economy of at least 10,8 trillion dollars (9.8 trillion Euros) a year. (Oxfam 2020)

It is time to join forces to enter the doughnut and build an economy which makes this invisible work visible and fosters gender equality families and societies.

A crucial first step towards this goal has recently been taken at European level with the adoption of the Work-life balance directive. This directive offers all families opportunities to better reconcile their work and family lives and reduce gender inequality in families. It is a milestone for women, men and children alike. After the adoption at European level, it is now a powerful instrument in the hands of the EU Member States. They need to invest and guarantee all parents the right to care by introducing in their national legislation adequately paid family leaves. Well-paid paternity and parental leaves all over Europe are key to building an economy which cares and encourages men to “share the care” and ultimately close the gender care gap.

                                                                                                      _____________________________

**DISCLAIMER: All opinions in this article reflect the views of the author, not of COFACE Families Europe**

About the author:

Annemie Drieskens holds a Masters degree in Law. She is for over 30 years actively involved in social policy and especially family policy as member of the board of the Gezinsbond, the largest family organisation in Belgium. Since 2012 she is the President of COFACE Families Europe

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Full version here

According to Esping-Andersen’s “The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism” (1990) , there are three key players in the production of welfare: the state, the market and family. The demographic  transition and evolving family patterns, coupled with low economic growth, increasing digitalisation of our lives and an ever-changing labour market, are all structural factors placing pressure on families. While fiscal consolidation reduces the resources available for social programmes, there is an urgent need to design welfare policies towards a smart social safety net based on access to adequate resources, services and time.

COFACE Families Europe is ready to address these challenges in partnership with the European Union, in an attempt to find sustainable and lasting solutions for the future. We are ready for a serious cross-party rethink of democratic public policy and budgets to make the economic system work for society. This list of key short-term demands to be achieved by the new European Commission from 2020-2024, are to be seen as concrete steps to meet the long-term goals of the European Pillar of Social Rights and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

They reflect the needs and challenges of families of today and call for a mix of European actions (policy, law, funding, benchmarking, innovation) to drive real change. These recommendations are addressed at EU-level policy-makers in the European Commission, European Parliament and Council of the EU, from whom we expect joint leadership to ensure tangible results for Europe’s citizens in the next 5 years. It is on this basis that we will measure and monitor the results of European Union actions.

I. A Europe recognising ALL family forms without discrimination.

II. A Europe which believes in equal opportunities for all families, with a special focus on equality between women and men, as a cornerstone for achieving reconciliation between family and professional life.

III. A Europe which invests in child well-being, shaping a healthy society, environment and economy fit for children.

IV. A Europe which promotes the participation of all families and children, with a special focus on persons with disabilities and their families to all areas of life.

V. A Europe which empowers all families and gives them a voice to act as citizens, consumers, and workers, with strong support for European and national civil society organisations.

VI. A Europe which harnesses the transformative power of technology and promotes an Internet for All.

VII. A Europe which tackles poverty and social exclusion of families and their members, through access to resources and community-based services.

VIII. A Europe which promotes intergenerational solidarity, with full support and recognition of the role of family carers.

IX. A Europe which respects human rights and advances the rights of ALL families and their members.

X. A Europe which makes the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals a reality.

The post A New Deal for Families of Today – COFACE highlights priorities for 2020-2024 appeared first on COFACE Families Europe.

MEDIA RELEASE on the launch of Call to Action and #AllFamiliesSpeakOut campaign

COFACE Families Europe is mobilising voters locally through member organisations (representing families of all types, without discrimination). We launched a call to our European network and to friends to vote in May 2019 using 10 key principles as a compass. #AllFamiliesSpeakOut

Our Call to Action includes the 10 principles which function as a compass to guide your vote:

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