From 13 to 15 November Budapest became the European Capital of the Family, with several major family policy events. ELFAC was there with several of its member associations from Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, Spain and Sweden.
The first , on Wednesday 13 in the morning, was the launch of the publication ‘European Union Family Policy Outlook 2024’, produced by the Maria Kopp Institute for Demography and Families (KINCS). The report analyses global demographic trends in Europe, the factors affecting family formation, and concludes with a comparative analysis of the family policies of each EU country.
The report can be downloaded here.
Meeting of the Executive Network for Family Values
This was followed by the sixth annual meeting of the Executive Network for Family Values under the theme “Protecting family values”. ELFAC has been a member of this Network since its inception by KINCS institute in 2019. The hybrid meeting was attended by more than 30 representatives of 20 organisations from 13 countries. The network brings together research centres on family and civil society institutions representing families.
Attila Beneda, Deputy State Secretary for Families, and Balász Molnár, Deputy State Secretary for EU Policy, from the Hungarian government, explained the prominence of family policies during the current six-month Hungarian Presidency of the European Union. Sharifa Noaman Al-Emadi, Executive Director of the DIFI (Doha International Family Institute) then explained the recent congress held in her country in conjunction with the United Nations to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the proclamation of the International Year of the Family.
Antoine Renard, Honorary President of FAFCE, presented the F (Family) 7 movement and its objectives, which they have launched to put families on the schedule of the G7. Kinga Joó, member of the board of ELFAC and of the Economic and Social Committee of the European Union, spoke to explain the recent EESC opinion on ‘Ensuring a needs-based work-life balance for all’; and Ádam Karácsony, member of the Committee of the Regions, spoke on the CoR opinion on ‘Demographic change in Europe: a toolbox for action’.
After the speeches, the participants discussed about their activities and possible lines of action. Raul Sanchez, Secretary General of ELFAC, presented the need to work on the cultural framework and to open the debate on proxy voting for parents of minors. Regina Maroncelli presented the good results of the European Network of Family-Friendly Municipalities.
Conference on Generations for a Competitive Future
On Thursday 14, the ‘Conference on Generations for a Competitive Future’ took place in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest. The conference gathered experts, policymakers, and prominent civil society figures from various countries, to discuss family-supportive policies, the family’s pivotal role in building a strong and balanced society, and ways to enhance its role in addressing future challenges.
Regina Maroncelli, President of ELFAC, was one of the keynote speakers on the topic ‘Mental Health and Family’.
Report on work-family balance
On Friday 15th an international scientific symposium was held at the Faculty of Law of ELTE University, where it was launched the KINCS report “Promoting labour market participation of parents with young children across the EU”, which brings together the experiences and recommendations of 24 experts from 17 countries on work-life balance and labour market participation of parents with young children. The report can be downloaded here.
In her welcome speech, Tünde Fűrész underlined that work-life balance is a central element of Hungarian family policy, and the aim is to ensure that working and having children are not mutually exclusive but reinforcing factors. The president of KINCS said that according to the institute’s research, the balance between work and family life is better today than 10-15 years ago. This is also confirmed by the fact that between 2011 and 2021, Hungary has seen the highest increase in the employment rate of women with children under six in the European Union, from 53% to 81%, besides which the total fertility rate has also risen, from 1.23 to 1.61.
In his opening speech, minister Dr. Balázs Hankó stressed that families are one of the most important pillars of Hungary’s successful future, which is why the amount of support for families has been quadrupled since 2010. The Minister of Culture and Innovation indicated that the most significant groups of support are family taxation and family home creation benefits, thanks to which 250,000 families have acquired or extended their homes, and 370,000 family homes have been renovated. He also pointed out that the number of nurseries has increased from 33,000 to 67,500 since 2010, and that the continuous improvement in the provision of childcare, the increase in the number of places and the introduction of the GYED extra scheme have seen more and more mothers with young children returning to the labour market. Speaking about the government’s plans for the future, Balázs Hankó said that Parliament is already debating a proposal to provide state scholarships and individual study plans or deferment options for women who have children during university, and that university dorm developments would also create places to help young people to start families during their university years.
