18/02/2009 Parliament expressed its support for the Commission Communication "Towards an EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child" and called on the Commission to take specific measures. The need to take concrete measures in order to answer to the needs of children and families is a position that the EP has defended on two notable occasions, through its resolution on "promoting social inclusion and combating poverty, including child poverty, in the EU" and its decision establishing 2010 as the European Year for combating poverty and social exclusion.

In this context, Marie Panayotopoulos - Cassiotou MEP (EPP-ED, Greece), Chairwoman of the Intergroup on 'Family and Protection of Childhood', asked the European Commission what is the recent state of play in this field and what other matters of crucial importance to children the Commission will promote in the near future.

The representative of the European Commission, Vice-President Jacques Barrot, gave the following answer to Mrs Panayotopoulos - Cassiotou: "The Commission Communication proposes the establishment of a Strategy aiming at efficiently promoting the rights of the child in the framework of the EU internal and external policies, supporting the efforts made by the Member States in this field (...) [ and finally] launching a consultation before the presentation of a European Strategy for the period 2010-2014. This consultation is ongoing: (...) in the fields of Justice, Liberty and Security prior to the Stockholm programme, the European forum for the rights of the child, the experts' reunion and the consultation of children to be launched in 2009. The new Strategy on the rights of the child will particularly be focused on the new priorities identifies by the EP resolution. Since the adoption of its Communication the Commission has committed itself to taken concrete measures such as legislative measures, measures of police and judicial cooperation, measures of cooperation between Member States, exchange of good practices, in view of combating any violation of children's rights. To this end, a Forum was created (...) [in order to] advice and support the Commission and other European Institutions, (...) to exchange information and good practices in matters related to the rights of the child (...) to promote the children's point of view on policies and matters which are of an interest to them. The conditions of such participation are to be determined. The Forum held on the 9th of December 2008 mainly dealt with the theme of violence and of the participation and consultation of children.

Regarding children's poverty, national action plans for social inclusion 2008-2010 have confirmed that poverty and social exclusion of children constitute more than never a concern to the great majority of Member States, but also an essential element in the framework of the Open Method of Coordination on poverty and social exclusion. Progress has been made in the field of the analysis and the statistical treatment of these questions; nevertheless, it is hard to find the necessary efforts and political engagement without which it will be very difficult to have a decisive influence on the phenomenon of poverty and social exclusion of children. (...) In this respect, the Commission wishes to reinforce the process of definition of reasonable objectives but also the establishment of monitoring and evaluation tools both at European and National level. It also considers a better way to coordinate the European process in the field of the rights of the child, but also the social inclusion process and the encouragement of the improvement of synergies at a National level between the establishment of reports on the UN Convention on the rights of the Child and the development of national action plans for social inclusion".

"In this context of generalised financial crisis which influences the daily lives of families, what matters is the rapid execution of preventive measures in order to control an unexpected extension of the multidimensional phenomenon of child poverty, and notably in the regions affected by unemployment", commented Marie Panayotopoulos - Cassiotou.

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2010 - 2014: NEW EUROPEAN STRATEGY ON THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN'S RIGHTS

13/02/2009: The EU establishes a strategy for the protection of the rights of children on its territory, through its internal and external policies. In that respect, MEP Marie Panayotopoulos - Cassiotou MEP (EPP-ED,GR), Chairwoman of the Intergroup on 'Family and Protection of Childhood', asked the Commission what its efforts have achieved so far, whether there is recognition at European level of the rights of the unborn child - healthy or disabled, and how they are implemented.

In a written answer, the Commission declared that "since the adoption of the 2006 Communication 'Towards a Strategy on the rights of the child', the Commission has committed itself to undertake concrete actions in view of combating any form of violation of children's rights. The Commission foresees to present a new strategy on the rights of the child for the period 2010 - 2014. To this end, a public consultation is ongoing.
European action is focused on the inclusion of children's rights in all policies, but also on the consideration of these same rights when undertaking concrete actions, within the framework of EU's competences.
The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights guarantees the principle of inviolability of Human dignity. It is up to each Member to determine the pertinence of the application of this principle to the unborn child.The determination of whether the principle of inviolability of human dignity comprises the embryo or not as well as the determination of the legal personality of the embryo lies within the competences of the Member States.
The EU has no competence on this issue" concluded the European Commission.

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FAMILY-FRIENDLY POLICIES

05/02/2009: Marie Panayotopoulos - Cassiotou MEP, Chairwoman of the Intergroup on Family and the Protection of Childhood of the European Parliament, presided a meeting on family policy in France, held in Strasbourg on Wednesday 4 February 2009. To this end, the Chairwoman welcomed Mr Philippe Steck, International Relations Director of the French national family allowances funds (CNAF).

"In order to contribute to the GDP (around 4.6%, allowances, housing aid and tax breaks included), French family policy should not merely be limited to the monetary aids families benefit from; it should be considered as a major policy irrigating legal fields such as family law or labour law. Family policy is implemented by the State and local collectivities but is also put into practice by one of the most important sectors of French Social Security. In this respect, family policy guarantees a balance between the respect of rights at national level and proximity actions, but also cash benefit, services and facilities. Education (classically not included within family policy) can be considered as an essential vector of family actions. Finally, one of its characteristics is an obvious social democracy in its governance, with the active participation of stakeholders such as social partners and family associations", stated Mr Steck.

The CNAF representative noted the existence of 25 different family allowances in France, concentrated around the following fields: childcare, large families, actions in favour of single-parent families, measures in order to tackle poverty (in France, 27% of children live under the poverty threshold before the allocation of family allowances, rate decreasing to 7% afterwards), personalised housing aid, reduction on transport tickets.

Mr Steck underlined that France took an active part in family policy, thus reaching a good balance between universal actions and actions targeting the underprivileged. Moreover, the cash benefit system in France puts forward, as a major partner of family policy, the 'family' field of Social Security, 60% of public spending.

The MEPs who participated in the meeting questioned the speaker on family benefits, but also on the efficiency of childcare in France. To that end, Mr Speck stressed the flexibility of family policies, the importance of giving choices to parents in order for them to decide what care is the most appropriate for their children: childcare at home by one of the two parents (49% of children under 3 years old), maternal assistance (22%), nurseries (10%), grand-parents (receiving a grant of €160) (5%), carers at home (2%), children in care (1 to 2%).

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RECOGNITION OF EMPLOYMENT WITHIN THE FAMILY

28/01/2009: At European level Decisions are taken in order to grant numerous rights and concessions to mothers and fathers, rights in respect of dependent family members (children, the elderly, the disabled) as well as decisions to facilitate the combination of work and family life, but also in relation to remunerated activities or self-employment. However, self-employment within the family, the implications thereof for the family and the family as an employer has not been recognized by the EU. Consequently, the Greek MEP asked what proposals the Czech Presidency was going to present in this area.

The Council's representative, M. Vondra Alexandr, answered Mrs Panayotopoulos - Cassiotou's question as follows: "the European Parliament and the Council can only act in a legislative capacity on the basis of a proposal from the Commission. The Commission has indeed recently tabled a proposal for a new Directive on the application of the principle of equal treatment between men and women engaged in an activity in a self-employed capacity and repealing Directive 86/613/EEC. The proposal aims at improving the social protection of self-employed workers, with a view to removing disincentives to female entrepreneurship ... the social protection of "assisting spouses", who often work in the self-employed sector without enjoying the corresponding rights. ... the vast majority of such “assisting spouses” are women, and many of them work in the agricultural sector. The Commission's proposal also aims at enhancing the recognition of such self-employment within the family by granting maternity leave to “assisting spouses”, the proposal also seeks to redress the sometimes problematic implications that informal employment within family businesses can have for the family itself, especially when “assisting spouses” have children.

Turning to the broader implications of unrecognized work by “assisting spouses” in the long term... the Council is aware of the particularly difficult situation faced by unsalaried women who depend on their husbands for their income and whose financial situation is often precarious when they retire, or if they divorce or are widowed. The Council expressed its concern with regard to this issue in December 2007, when it adopted a set of Conclusions on "Women and Poverty". The Council recognized that women were more vulnerable to income poverty than men and that the gender gap increased with age. More recently, in December 2008, the Council adopted a set of Conclusions on "Women and the Economy: the Reconciliation of Work and Family Life". Here, too, the Council reaffirmed the importance of measures allowing women and men to reconcile their work and family responsibilities, and called for appropriate policies.

In conclusion, the Council is actively addressing the concerns with respect to self-employment within a family context. The Czech Presidency will continue discussions on the above-mentioned legislative initiative and will follow its development in the European Parliament".

"My wish is for the Commission to take into serious consideration the Council's answer, and present within the briefest possible delay a relevant proposal on this issue", stated Mrs Panayotopoulos - Cassiotou.

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E-mail: marie.panayotopoulos-cassiotou@europarl.europa.eu