Interview with Bernard Agulhon, treasurer of the association
Famille et Liberté is a an NGO that works in the public sphere to promote and support the family as the essential foundation of social cohesion, cultural transmission and vitality in our society.
Its work is aimed at families, providing them with insights into the social, political and economic changes in contemporary society, with the aim of supporting them in their educational role within a stable and nurturing environment that is conducive to children’s development and the strength of the family unit.
Famille et Liberté also engages with public authorities, providing them with clear guidelines, arguments and resources to understand the issues surrounding the family and to affirm the family’s place in public debate.
This work takes the form of producing analyses, distributing newsletters, publishing opinion pieces, organising conferences and professional symposia, and engaging in dialogue with institutions.
Its aim is to establish (or restore):
- Economic fairness, by reforming the system of child benefits and tax allowances so that it is no longer seen as charity towards families but as fair compensation for their vital contribution to the vitality of the economy and the stability of the pension system,
- Parents’ freedom to choose between paid work and bringing up their children, as well as freedom of choice regarding schooling
- Protection for young people against a number of threats (pornography, drugs, AIDS) against which they are not sufficiently warned.
Protection and promotion of large families is one of its main objectives.
F&L is convinced that the family constitutes a strategic lever that is too often underestimated in public policy, even though it plays a structuring role in many areas: education, the transmission of fundamental values, intergenerational solidarity, the development of human capital, territorial cohesion and demographic balance.
Conversely, the breakdown of the family unit — whether resulting from unstable relationships, a loss of bearings or the devaluation of the parental role — has profound effects on society as a whole: increased vulnerability of children, greater isolation, economic imbalances, pressure on social services, and a weakening of natural bonds of solidarity. This is why we call for the family to be recognised as a factor of lasting stability.
In a context marked by social fragmentation, an ageing population and growing uncertainties in education, F&L advocates for an ambitious, coherent and structuring family policy that is commensurate with the challenges it addresses.
What sets F&L apart
- F&L takes a constructive approach: we propose as much as we denounce.
- F&L remains faithful to a coherent and positive vision of the family, without compromise and without excluding anyone.
- F&L uses arguments based on reason, facts and the natural order, fully accessible to all,
- F&L has a national mission: with a methodology inspired by European family advocacy federations but adapted to French institutions.
The interview
The interviewer is Tanishka Enugu, an intern at ELFAC.