EU Policy Webinar on the implementation of the European Care Strategy
4th February 2024
Executive Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu referred to a European Care Deal in her confirmation hearing on 12th November 2024, highlighting the “importance of supporting all types of families, including single mothers.” She explained that her approach prioritises addressing the burden of care. She acknowledged that while caregiving can be a labour of love, for many people it is a significant burden, particularly in terms of intergenerational responsibilities. This includes the younger generation caring for their elderly relatives, as well as women who often carry the majority of caregiving responsibilities without recognition or protection, and without pay.
Background
Following a proposal of the European Commission for a European Care Strategy, EU Member States adopted two Council Recommendations: one on early childhood education and care, and one on long-term care.[1] The actions taken under both Recommendations are being monitored through different mechanisms and tools.
COFACE advocates for professional care services across the life cycle to help families reconcile their work and family responsibilities.[2] This is essential to help families manage different work-family transitions such as the birth of a child, a major change in employment status of one or both parents, children’s transition through the education and later the employment system, special needs of a family member and care given for older family members. The visibility of family carers and their essential support and care to their family members, sometimes with no professional support, is also highlighted through the European Charter for Family Carers.[3]
To support the implementation of the European Care Strategy, COFACE has been monitoring its development closely with the help of an alliance of European civil society and trade union organisations active in the field of care.[4]
Objectives of the EU policy webinar
This webinar brought together speakers from the EU institutions, and participants from different fields and backgrounds in order to:
- Discuss tools for monitoring and evaluation of the European Care Strategy implementation;
- Share knowledge from national and EU level in order to strengthen the policy and funding levers to boost implementation.
Working language: English
Participants: COFACE members, EU and national policy-makers, European funding authorities, European and international NGOs.
Speakers
- Mary Daly, University of Oxford, Joint Coordinator of the rEUsilience research project (Presentation)
- Greet Vermeylen, Team leader, Gender equality unit, DG JUST, European Commission
- Jiri Svojse, Seconded National Expert, Social Protection Unit, DG EMPL, European Commission
- Maria Calle Garcia, Chair of the Indicators Sub-group of the Social Protection Committee (Presentation)
- Christian Morabito, Member of the Network of Experts working on the Social dimension of Education and Training (Presentation)
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[1] 2022 Council Recommendations on early childhood education and care: the Barcelona Targets for 2030
2022 Council Recommendation on access to affordable high-quality long-term care
[2] Families on the Edge: Building a comprehensive European Work-life balance reality, COFACE 2017
[3] COFACE Disability, European Charter for Family Carers (2024 review)
[4] Joint statement: Time for a European Long-term care platform, 2024
Resources
- A European Care Strategy for caregivers and care receivers
- 2022 Council Recommendation on access to affordable high-quality long-term care
- SPC Annual Report 2024 EC-SPC report on long-term care, 2021
- ECE Thematic report review: application of EU labour law to the access for domestic workers to labour and social protection: An analysis of policies in 34 European countries
- Addressing knowledge gaps in relation to the LTC workforce
- LTC sector Social innovation projects on long-term care
- Long-term care page on EUROPA: the list of national LTC coordinators/contact points, mutual learning reports, studies, etc.
- Indicators Sub-Group of the EU Social Protection Committee
- Polish presidency informal education council on inclusive education in January 2025, which focused partly on ECEC
- The 2nd wave CARE survey of the European Institute on Gendeer Equality was carried out in 2024, and data will be released soon.The survey engaged over 60K respondents across the EU. The 1st wave survey microdata is available on GESIS open data portal. The selected list of indicators is published on EIGE’s Gender statistics database.
- Monitoring and Benchmarking frameworks in the field of employment, social affairs and inclusion
