Brussels, 17/01/2001 (Agence Europe) - In a statement, the President of the European People's Party, Wilfried Martens made a point of stating that the document on "A Union of Values" which the EPP Congress adopted in Berlin contained no ambiguity regarding the Party's support for family values. The passage of the document on this question (see EUROPE of 15/16 January, p.5) was the subject of a lively debate in congress, Martens recalls, noting that there had been "attempts to qualify our position on the traditional family as central to our society", but that these attempts had been "overwhelmingly rejected". The EPP "did not recognise new models of the family", he stressed, while acknowledging that "we are of course aware of profound changes in the way people choose to live, and of the pressures of modern life on families". The real victims of this change are the children, and "I am very pleased that the Italian Christian Democrats proposed the relevant changes to this paragraph to make this point entirely clear", Mr. Martens added. (the text, which recognises other forms of "other forms of life communities", other than the "family", stresses that "families where fathers and mothers take responsibility for their children are the foundation of our society").