SECOND EUROPEAN DEMOGRAPHY FORUM: BETTER SOCIETIES FOR FAMILIES AND OLDER PEOPLE

24/11/2008: The Second Demography Report 'Meeting social needs in an ageing society' was published on 21 November 2008 by the European Commission. The report was presented at the European Demography Forum on 24 and 25 November 2008 in Brussels. More than 440 policy-makers and actors in this field attended this.

The opening session of the European Demography Forum was chaired by the Greek MEP Marie Panayotopoulos - Cassiotou. Mrs Panayotopoulos - Cassiotou, Chairwoman of the EP's Intergroup on Family and Protection of Childhood, was invited by the European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, and the French Minister for Employment, Xavier Bertrand.

The speakers focused on the latest demographical evolutions which have become a true challenge for Europe. These evolutions will lead to a decrease of the labour force – and a tremendous increase of the population over 60 years old by 2014 – but will also have a great economical and social impact on all Member States. The intervening parties emphasised the various propositions regarding upholding the working population within the labour market, the voluntary work by pre-pension workers, the improvement of training and working conditions, the integration of immigrants and particularly the support towards families, by presenting to European citizens the necessary guaranties in order for them to be able to have their aspiring number of children. The progress made in terms of maternity and paternity leave, the guarantee of quality education, the improvement of social services, especially those regarding child care but also care for the elderly, are regarded as essential and common objectives to all Member States. To this end, Member States should exchange good practices in these areas. The survival of the economic systems, flexibility in work relations to the advantage of workers, and sustainable growth, secure investments in human dynamic and require efficient answers to approximate demographical previsions.

The Second Demography Report corrects statistics and previsions of the year 2004. It highlights the actions taken by Member States in order to meet families' needs by updating European policies and promoting care opportunities for elderly people. During the discussion and concluding session, Mrs Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou had the opportunity to underline the EU's evolution towards the adoption of family-friendly policies. The Greek MEP requested an upgrading of the European Alliance for Families, which should become a synchronisation platform for defined actions in the fields of intergenerational solidarity, equal opportunities, and the guarantee of future perspectives for youngsters. The objectives set by the Lisbon Strategy will then be reached and Europe will maintain its global partner position.

For further information:
Marie Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou MEP
Tel: +32-2-2847447, Fax: +32-2-2849447
E-mail: marie.panayotopoulos-cassiotou@europarl.europa.eu

REDUCED VAT RATES ON BABY DIAPERS. JOSÉ RIBEIRO E CASTRO MEP AND MARIE PANAYOTOPOULOS-CASSIOUTOU MEP

10/07/2008: "The Commission has fulfilled what it had promised us, but it is important to go further in helping families."

"It is good to see a happy ending to three years of work and continuous pressure on the responsible persons." This was the message today from José Ribeiro e Castro MEP and Marie Panayotopoulos-Cassioutou MEP, after receiving the Commission's official information on its proposal to change the Directive 2006/112/EC of the Council which will, among other things, solve the dispute on VAT rates for children's nappies.

The Intergroup of Family and Protection of Childhood, Presided by Mrs Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou and Mr Ribeiro e Castro, Vice-Chairman, has undertaken several initiatives aiming to show the public and the European Commission the unfairness of the different VAT rates on children's nappies.

"It is an absurd situation in that the Commission believes that adult incontinence protection can be subject to lower VAT rates but not children's nappies", reiterated Ribeiro e Castro and Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou. "This new proposal aims to correct this obvious anomaly."

Both parliamentarians agree that it is necessary to go further in the efforts not to penalise the inevitable expenditure made by families with children. "As we already proposed at European level a year ago, when celebrating the International Day of Family (15 May 2007), we believe that VAT rates should be lowered in child care products thus giving a positive sign to family and demography. The Commission's initiative is, in the Commission's own words, 'just a first step' addressing the 'urgent cases' and limited to 'technical drafting adaptations'", said the MEPs. "So, we are going to struggle for a more global review of this Directive. The Council has regrettably been quite late in giving the necessary guidance to this process of getting governments to treat families in a non-hostile way, especially where basic care for children is concerned. Governments should be accountable for this matter."

"We understand that the Commission cannot go further right now and it is crucially important that it can have the support of the 27 Member States for, at least, this limited package of technical adjustments. It would be positive that, within the legislative programme announced in 2008, the European Union, through the European Commission, might be able to effectively fulfil what it had publicly promised and announced on July 19 2006, in the framework of the requests for information to the European Commission sent to Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Poland and Portugal in the form of letters of formal notice to several Member States about their application of reduced VAT rates for children's nappies.

"It should also be taken into account the need to dissipate the doubts about reduced VAT rates on child car seats", as Ribeiro e Castro called to the Commission's attention some months ago.

"But it is incomprehensible that there is discrimination between the Member States in items such as children's clothing and shoes where the States apply different VAT rates. If the European Commission is about to solve the discrepancy between other areas (such as housing) it is incomprehensible that the difference is kept in Member States in such relevant products as children's clothing and shoes.

THE GERMAN PRESIDENCY PRIORITIES IN THE FIELDS OF DEMOGRAPHY AND THE FAMILY

24/01/2007: Intervention of Mrs Ursula von der Leyen, German Federal Minister for the family, senior citizens, women and youth.

On the invitation of MEP, Marie Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou (EPP-ED, GR), President of the Intergroup on Family and Protection of Childhood, Mrs Ursula von der Leyen, German Federal Minister for the family, senior citizens, women and youth, presented the priorities of the German presidency in the fields of demography and the family during a meeting that was held on the 23rd of January in the EP in Brussels. The encounter gathered a great number of Members of the EP, representatives of the European Commission, the Economic and Social Committee, NGOs as well as researchers.

The Minister referred to the demographic changes in Europe and to the subsequent challenges at both economic and social level. Given this situation, she indicated that the promotion and the reinforcement of the family as a factor for economic prosperity and social solidarity would be one of the key priorities of the German Presidency. The objective is to create the necessary conditions in order to have families with more children and to increase the number of families within society. To this effect, the Presidency will give particular attention to the conciliation of family and professional life and in particular, to the strengthening of the role of the fathers and the sons in the context of the reinforcement of intergenerational relations. Mrs von der Leyen underlined that gender equality in the labour market depended greatly on the availability of flexible care facilities for dependent persons.

In order to attain the above objectives, Mrs von der Leyen indicated that she would propose, during the Spring European Council, the adoption of a "European Alliance for the Families". The goal of the Alliance will be to exchange ideas and experiences on how societies can adapt to families' needs as well as to elaborate concrete projects without putting into question the sharing of responsibilities between the EU and the Member States. To this end, the Alliance will establish a structured collaboration with all interested parties, including civil society, which will be pursued beyond the German Presidency. In addition, the Minister stressed the importance of collecting reliable data on the situation of families and of elaborating global studies which would help the needs of families to be better taken in to account in national and EU policies.

During the debate, Mr Buffetaut from the Economic and Social Committee presented a study which had been requested by the German Presidency, on "family and demographic change". Minister von der Leyen agreed with the conclusions of the study on the necessity of ensuring the continuity of family measures irrespective of Government changes, and the importance of exchanging best practices in the field of family policies. Following the fears expressed by many participants that children could become instruments in order to solve the demographic problem, Mrs von der Leyen said the goal of the Presidency was to give Europeans the will and courage to have children not because it would help increase birth rates, but because having a family is a source of happiness, solidarity and social cohesion. The Minister also agreed with several MEPs who regretted that the value of family has been undermined in public opinion and indicated that family policies should "give the possibility to live traditional values in a modern world".

MOBILISATION OF THE EU TO DEAL WITH DEMOGRAPHY

08/11/2006: The EU has mobilised to address the demographic problem and its consequences in European countries. The European Parliament, with its legislative power, has a major role to play in the initiatives taken by the European Commission, which has been charged with developing specific studies on effective solutions for the demographic problem. On the occasion of the Forum that was organised by the European Commission on the 30th and 31st of October in Brussels, the Greek Member of the European Parliament (EPP-ED), MEP Marie Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou (EPP-ED, GR) President of the EP Intergroup on "Family and the Protection of Childhood" was invited to chair a session related to the presentation of the EP's pilot actions on demography.

Mrs Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou highlighted the need to adopt all necessary measures in favour of multidimensional support for families and older people. She pointed out that all avenues should be explored in order to reverse unfavourable demographic developments, considering that the increase of the population from immigrant flows is only a temporary solution to this crucial problem.

The Forum serves as a continuation of the deliberations that started with civil society on the occasion of the publication of the Green Book on Demography in 2005. The organisation of this event is linked to the recent Commission's Communication (12 October 2006) on "The Future of Demography in Europe - a challenge or an opportunity?"

The debates, which lasted two days, gathered more than 400 participants, including Ministers, representatives of the EU Institutions, non-Governmental Organisations, experts and political analysts. The working groups addressed various aspects of the problem and the means to achieve full implementation of the projects which have been developed within the framework of specific studies. The main objectives were the following:

• The need to create suitable conditions for the demographic renewal of the European population through the support of families and the promotion of gender equality.


• Use of human resources within the framework of "active ageing".


• Development of productivity and economic adjustment to the changing needs of an ageing society.


• Integration of immigrants into society and the labour market.


• Sound budgetary policies and long-term viability of social protection systems.

The presentation of the Eurobarometer study in 2006 on fertility and ageing showed that more than 50% of people questioned (above the age of 15 years old) would like to have two children and 30% wish to have three children or more. In Greece, the fertility rate for 2004 - 2005 reached 1,3%, placing the country together with Italy, Spain, Lithuania, Latvia and Hungary at the lowest level of the scale. It appears from the answers that were given that the reasons for which citizens do not have their desired number of children are mainly related to health problems that couples encounter (for example the advanced age of women for procreation, the average in Greece is 30 years old and in the EU is 25-29 years old) as well as the absence of the "right" partner. Even though working time and conciliation of family and private life are often mentioned as obstacles to the creation of a family, the study reveals that these are not the main reasons for which couples do not have the desired number of children.