Europe has forgotten its families

Carolyn Moynihan | Saturday, 23 June 2007

Europe has forgotten its families

The debate in Brussels over a new European treaty is a sideshow to the real issue confronting Europe: the state of the family.

Leaders of the 27 countries of the European Union are gathered in Brussels right now to hammer out a new treaty for the enlarged union. The grander idea of a constitution has been dropped, following rejection of a draft two years ago by French and Dutch voters, and because of deep scepticism about it in the United Kingdom and Czechoslovakia.

With trappings of unity such as a flag (blue with 12 gold stars) and an anthem (Beethoven's "Ode to Joy") shelved; with the idea of an EU foreign "minister" dropped and even the proposed charter of fundamental rights downgraded, the business of the meeting revolves around a new voting system -- hotly contested by Poland.

The thing you really need to know about the European Union is this. It has deliberately and shamefully neglected the one institution that can guarantee its future: the family.

But forget about the constitution and the treaty for a moment. The thing you really need to know about the European Union is this. It has deliberately and shamefully neglected the one institution that can guarantee its future: the family.

Although the European Commission has five vice-presidencies and 21 committees, none of them covers the family. The committee on Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities which should look after the family, doesn't, although it has a team with 47 portfolio activities and 33 non-portfolio activities.

In 1989 the Commission created an Observatory on Family Policies. In 1989 it was renamed the European Observatory on Family Matters. Then it became the European Observatory on the Social Situation, Demography and Family. Better than nothing, you say? Yes, but "nothing" was just around the corner. In 2004 that organ was closed down and replaced with the Observatory on the Social Situation and Demography. Period. Of the 95 Green Papers written since 1984, none has been on the family.

Not one.

All this despite the fact that a certain lip service is paid to the family. Article 33 of the (disputed) Charter of Fundamental Rights says the EU has a role to play in the debate on family policy, even if practical steps lie with the individual states. And quite recently the Economic and Social Committee recommended that member states should be encouraged to incorporate the family dimension in their policies.

While it is too soon to know what effect that will have, it is a safe bet that something more than a polite mention will be necessary to bring the family into focus for the EU. If they really want to look, however, the bigwigs in Brussels will find that the work has been done for them by the Madrid-based Institute for Family Policies, a group in special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

Facts and figures

Co-opting experts in various fields, the IPF has pulled together the best available statistics to compile a report on the family in Europe that ought to be the subject of an urgent European summit. All the facts in this article are taken from it.

First, the big picture. With a couple of exceptions, natural population increase throughout Europe is static or declining. What population growth there is comes overwhelmingly from immigration -- accounting for 80 per cent of growth in 2006. With all these immigrants, the total population of the EU is not quite 500 million and is likely to decline after 2025. The United States alone has 300 million people and is likely to keep growing and overtake Europe.

Behind the overall trend are birth rates in free fall -- the EU average is 1.38; abortion rates that discard 3,385 children every day and make abortion the main cause of death in Europe; dramatic falls in marriage rates; mothers averaging age 30 at the birth of their first child; and climbing divorce rates affecting 21 million children over the past 15 years. On top of that is the greying of Europeans: already there are more people over 65 than under 14, and one out of every 25 EU citizens is over 80. The age pyramid of 1960 has turned into a rhombus.

All of this is known to the politicians and, to their credit, some states have taken steps to recognise the family as an institution. Ireland, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Romania, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Italy and Malta have government departments more or less dedicated to the family. Other states are reluctant to build policies on the family -- no doubt because of liberal moral agendas -- even though social research shows over and over again that the family (based on the stable union of a man and a woman) is the best cushion against all the ills that afflict Europeans today: unemployment, illness, homelessness, drug addiction and social exclusion.

If we follow the money the picture is clear: out of every 13 euros of social expenditure, Europe spends only one on the family. This amounts to less than 500 euros per person each year. There are, of course, huge differences between countries, but the most generous country, Denmark, still sets aside only 3.9 per cent of GDP. For Spain and Poland the figure is less than 1 per cent.

Benefits per child vary markedly. In Germany a family with two children would be entitled to 308 euros a month, and 462 euros a month for three children. The same family in Slovakia, Poland or Latvia would receive less than 30 euros. And restrictions based on income "are so severe that the majority of families in countries such as Italy, Malta, Slovenia, Portugal, Spain and the Czech Republic would not receive any benefit," says IPF.

Child benefits are crucial both to reducing child poverty and allowing families to have the number of children they want, which in Europe averages out to 2.3 -- a healthy margin above "replacement" level. The stinginess of countries like Italy and Spain, where birth rates are low even for Europe, is therefore hard to fathom.

Also difficult to understand is why, given that the Council of Europe has been urging it for many years, most countries make no provision for supporting families in crisis so as to prevent family breakdown.

Europe has fallen asleep and forgotten the family. The IPF has issued a wake-up call, mapping out a way forward in the last part of its report. Here are guiding principles and concrete steps for strengthening the family that only leaders in the grip of a death wish could ignore. If they could agree that Europe is basically constituted by its families, they may even find that the dream of a European constitution looks a lot more possible.

Carolyn Moynihan is Deputy Editor of MercatorNet.

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Comments (12)

David macmanus said...

I have lives in spain for the last five years and have looked back on ireland with jealousy not for the weather… But for the fact that for my family size (6 children) we would recieve approx 17000€ per annum. In spain at present we recieve 2500€, this difference as far as i can see is a barrier to one of the most basic premises that underly the foundation of the EU, ie freedom of movement of people. Why would an irishman or Dane go work in Spain or Italy?

Spain | Saturday, 23 June 2007 at 11:51 pm David macmanus said...

Are we talking about benifits or would it be more accurate to speak of investment? Investment is simply spendig money now withthe intention of reping a reurn on that investment over time. If government invest in the family now they will consequently be able to tax more people in the future. As it stands Large families are footing the investment only to have the goernment benifit in the future. This is fundamentally unfair,if it were the case that national governments had to copete for exclusive rights to tax peoples children in the future i am sure that i would have a number of government

Spain | Sunday, 24 June 2007 at 12:17 am roger said...

The governments of the west were part of the cause of Europe’s demographic problems, they will NOT be the solution, and in fact they should be kept as far away from families as possible. Above all its a cultural issue, where young people (mainly young women) are literally afraid of children in the womb. The financial issues could be solved easily by reducing the ridiculously high taxations (more than 50% of income for most go to tax - direct or indirect).

Germany | Sunday, 24 June 2007 at 4:27 am Silvername said...

With the pro-abortion, pro-cohabitation, pro-prostitution pro-homophilia, pro-pedophilia neopagans and homocrats ruling Europe, the anti-traditional family, anti-traditional marriage policies of the EU will only get worse.

And that of course opens Europe up to Islamic invasion by migration.

Christianity is the only hope for Europe.

-- | Sunday, 24 June 2007 at 11:56 am David macmanus said...

Competing to support my family. (see previous comment)

Indirect tax is not discriminatory and could only be useful for childrens clothing, large family size cars etc. Othe indirect taxes do not distinguish between families large or small or singles. Direct tax could be the answer, personally i pay 36% even though i am supporting a family of 8.

Spain | Sunday, 24 June 2007 at 6:40 pm Francis Phillips said...

Reading this article this evening reminded me of an occurence earlier in the day: I was talking to a young married woman after Mass this morning. She works for a large investment bank in London, but has spent some years living in Italy. She told me she loved the way the Italians value family life, love children and care for the extended family. I responded by saying ‘If this is the case, why is the birth rate in Italy so low?’ I added that this would be the last generation of Italians to experience such a culture of the ‘extended family’.

This well-educated (she had studied philosophy at university) English Catholic looked horrified and astonished. She did not deny what I said; she had simply no idea of the problem. In a sense this seems to me to be the problem: that the future ‘intelligentsia’ of Europe, those like this young woman, who will make the laws and policies (and who will have or decide not to have, marriage and children) do not understand the gravity of the situation before them. She seemed a charming person, and is clearly leading a charmed life. She is also a practising Catholic - but without knowing the role of the laity in society and in the world.

United Kingdom | Monday, 25 June 2007 at 4:53 am Andres Salazar said...

Carolyn, thanks for an enriching article.

In Colombia policies towards family are going in similar trends. Recently there was an intent to assimilate homosexual couples with married couples. Abortion was depenalized on some extreme cases and pushed by a Colombian woman trained in the US (women´s link member). The Government is pushing for further reduction in our already low fertility rates (2.7) to bring them down to 1.9, “so the country can develop” they say, and specially aimed at poor families, which they say are the most fertile.

This spring I attended the Population Association of America Annual Meeting in New York, and heard the same old stories: Fertility should continue declining, and worries about african families having stopped their fertility decline at four children… The Population Council of UN pushing hard on these issues.

Do keep helping people around the globe see the realities of demographic trends.

Andres Salazar (Bogota, Colombia, South America)

Colombia | Monday, 25 June 2007 at 9:43 am angela shanahan said...

I am a columnist with various newspapers, currently I am beginning a new column for The australian newspaper.I was one of the first people to write seriously about the decline in birthrates and the consequences. Naturally I was ridiculed -at first. No longer . Australia’s birhtrate fell below replacement some time ago and there was a general panic with calls to increase immigration. But recently there has been a gradual improvmentin the Australian birthrate.
Whether this continues remains to be seen.We are on the crest of an economic boom , with almost full empoloyment. But one of the most accurate indicators of a stable population is that partnering rates in Australia ( otherwise known as marriages)have stabalised , and believe it or not the divorce rate, while high, has,begun to level off, especially for couples with children.Large families are not the norm , but havng three children never quite disappeared from australia as it did elswhere, and the current treasurer avidly spruiks the ‘have a third child’ slogan.
However i want to know what has happened to France? The french have the highest birthrate in Europe, and some of the most generous family tax and social policies. But is this the reason for their birthrate or is it basically being bouyed up by the isalmic immigrants who have huge families. Is this why they have more moslems in france than elswhere in Europe?

Australia | Monday, 25 June 2007 at 2:30 pm Brenda Mcgann said...

Dear Carolyn,
Thankyou for this timely and succinct article-it is so true that we are asleep in this part of the world to the plight of the family based on the stable union of one man and one woman and you have neatly summed it up for us.Sometimes there is so much “euro-speak” in the reports from what is going on in Brussels that we cannot see the gaps in the agenda because of the focus presented.
Thank you,I am printing your article out to study and discuss further.....
As for France, not sure- have just come back from a very pleasant stay there and noticed how the public spaces, school buses, villages and general inter-generational celebrations certainly embrace the children ( helped by beautiful climate too!) One very good thing i noticed which was a welcome change was that there were more Churches open all day for people to pop in and pray in- and the atmosphere in the village thus served was demonstrably very good.
kind regards
Brenda McGann

Ireland | Monday, 25 June 2007 at 9:38 pm Maria said...

Every where I look in Calgary, Alberta, I see signs for “help wanted” or stores being forced to close early in the day because of a labor shortage. Where have all of the young, employable people gone? I think we are experiencing the ill-effects of the sexual revolution…

Canada | Tuesday, 26 June 2007 at 12:19 pm Carolyn Moynihan said...

Thanks Brenda, but the credit goes to the Institute for Family Policies which produced the Report, Evolution of the Family in Europe. I recommend anyone interested to go to their website and download the report for a close read: http://www.ipfe.org/

New Zealand | Wednesday, 27 June 2007 at 7:35 am Patricia said...

I don’t think you can blame women for being afraid of children in the womb. I think most of the responsibility for this problem lies with contraception. Once you have the unitive and the procreative aspects separated, the act itself becomes merely recreational. Men no longer have much responsibility in this area and they can leave whenever they want. There is no impetus for them to settle down with one woman and create a “family”. They can move from one partner to the next. And abandoned women like myself who would have had 6 or 7 children never do because remarriage is impossible. Why would a man marry me with 4 children - he doesn’t want 4 children of his own, let alone raising some other guy’s children.

Canada | Wednesday, 27 June 2007 at 9:35 am

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Europe has forgotten its families

The debate in Brussels over a new European treaty is a sideshow to the real issue confronting Europe: the state of the family.

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