THE SITUATION OF LONE PARENT FAMILIES IN THE EU

26/10/2006: The Intergroup on Family and Protection of Childhood met today in Strasbourg under the chairmanship of Mrs. Marie Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou (EPP-ED, GR) to discuss the situation of lone parent families in the EU. The Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Mr Vladimir Spidla, was the keynote speaker of this event in which MEPs, NGO representatives and social partners participated.

The purpose of the meeting was to highlight the socio-economic difficulties faced by lone parent families, which represented in 2001 4.3 million families in the EU-15, as well as to address the potential impact of lone parenthood on the Commission's management of the demographic problem, the conciliation of family and professional life and the labour market.

During his intervention, the Commissioner indicated that the Commission would publish by the end of the year a study on lone parent families which would pay particular attention to the fact that 90% of lone parent families are headed by women. Mr Spidla explained that existing statistics on the extent of lone parenthood are not always a reflection of the reality since on the one hand, there are differing views as to the definition of lone parent families, and on the other hand, the data that has been collected does not cover all the aspects of this family situation. Although sometimes some lone parent families can take advantage of their situation to obtain fiscal, social and other types of advantages, the fact remains that these families are particularly vulnerable to social exclusion and poverty - it is estimated that one out of four lone parent families is poor according to EU criteria. The Commissioner underlined that support for lone parents could not exclusively rely on economic benefits but depended also on broader measures which would deal with the fact that lone parents' poverty is not only economic but also social, cultural and educational.

Mr Spidla pointed out that the Commission, while abiding by its neutral approach to family policies, would study closely the situation of lone parent families and present the Member States' best practices in this field with the purpose of proposing further measures relating both to the integration of these families within society and the labour market as well as to the well-being of children.

During the debate, MEPs and NGO representatives highlighted in particular the problems of exclusion and social integration of these families and their children. Most of them expressed their disappointment with the fact that the Commission does not indicate how to prevent and resolve the phenomenon of lone parent families but merely monitors its development.

CHILDREN WITH IMPRISONED PARENTS: EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVES

16/05/2006: Speech by Mrs Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou at a conference in Paris organised by the European Committee for Children of Imprisoned Parents (EUROCHIPS), the Fédération Relais Enfants-Parents and the Bernard Van Leer Foundation.

On the proposal of Roselyne Bachelot MEP, Marie Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou, a Greek MEP and President of the Intergroup on Family and Protection of Childhood, was invited to open a conference on "Children with imprisoned parents: European perspectives", organised in Paris on 12 May by the European Committee for Children of Imprisoned Parents (EUROCHIPS), the Fédération Relais Enfants-Parents and the Bernard Van Leer Foundation.

The objective of the conference, which gathered together a great number of experts in the penitentiary field - lawyers, psychologists, representatives of family associations and journalists - was to highlight the difficulties encountered by children, both within and outside prisons, with imprisoned parents and to debate the measures that should be adopted in order to improve the emotional, psychological and educational aspects of the lives of these children.

Considering the fact that every year in Europe 700,000 children are separated from their imprisoned parent, Mrs Panayotopoulos underlined in her speech that the imprisonment of a parent should not affect the existence or the right to maintain personal relations with his/her child. Considering the fact that most of the time the emotional and psychological needs of children are not taken into account when their parents are imprisoned, and that they often undergo the weight of the latter's imprisonment, measures of support, including of a socio-educational nature, should be adopted in order to enable the reconstruction of harmony in the family as well as social and professional reinsertion after the period of detention.

Mrs Panayotopoulos stressed that a specific policy of maternal and child protection in the context of prisons should be adopted in the case that alternative sanctions to imprisonment are not possible. To this effect, the environment of the child in prison should be adapted to its needs and therefore imply the creation of play areas, adequate healthcare and nutrition, contacts with the outside world etc.

Moreover, the MEP mentioned the Recommendation which was adopted in January 2006 by the Council of Europe on the revised European prison rules. The Recommendation invites Member States to establish, among others, visiting methods that would enable prisoners to maintain and develop family relations as normally as possible. According to Mrs Panayotopoulos, the vicinity of the place of detention with the family residence as well as the simplification of the visiting procedures are elements which could help maintain family relations.

Finally, one can hope that the future Communication of the European Commission on the rights of the child, which is expected for the month of June, will also cover the situation of children with imprisoned parents.