Brussels, 18/03/2004 (Agence Europe) - After having referred to the attacks on 11 March and the themes of the Spring Summit (EUROPE 13 March p 7) with Bertie Ahern, COMECE (Commission of the Bishops' Conference of the European Community) on Tuesday published the detailed proposals on a "family strategy for the EU" to make the EU "the most family-friendly region of the world by 2010". Presenting the paper to the press, Mgr Noël Treanor, president of COMECE underlined that if the Lisbon strategy were to be completed, European catholic bishops proposed that European decision-makers draw up a plan for a Union strategy on the family that could substantially contribute to reversing the very strong fall in Union demographic growth.
The strategy has laid out some detailed proposals for reaching six global objectives: 1) improve the integration of elderly people within society, primarily through helping their families to help them; 2) promote fairer children-friendly regulations and policies; promote fairer regulations and policies on marriage and parenting; promote closer links between generations; promote public support for families in particular need; promote family associations and a better representation of families in public life.
Treanor explained that COMECE believed that family policy had to remain a competence of Member States but that there was an urgent need to progress in this area, which justified more exchanges of good practices and the setting up of a certain number of common initiatives, including the adoption of legislative measures. In conclusion, Mgr Treanor declared that they were calling on the European institutions to join their efforts to complete the Lisbon strategy with a European strategy on the family".
Jérôme Vignon director for Social Policy at DG employment at the European Commission congratulated COMECE for having taken the risk of producing this "simple and short text" which was not based on doctrine but on the concerns and problems encountered in European society. Vignon consider that the paper demonstrates that there is an increasing demand for help from European families (notably for helping the elderly) whose situation is becoming increasingly precarious. Vignon believes that this involves "a political problem that does not just concern moral authorities" and that the European Economic and Social committee (EESC) could examine the paper, notably as "contribution to the debate on religious conscience". He also pointed out that family policy rested on a problem of subsidiarity and that the suggestion for making this issue part of the Lisbon strategy deserved reflection. Vignon noted that in this respect all policies, whether they were social, employment and health etc had to take into account the impact they had on making the family more fragile. At the same time, on the question of the place of married couples as a starting point for family life, he noted that the evolution of couples went in other directions and that the church had to look at fidelity and duration in a more pluralist context.