The 11th edition of the Joint ESAs Consumer Protection Day (JECPD) took place on October 3, 2024, in Budapest. Martin Schmalzried attended the event, representing the interests of families from across Europe.
On the 17th of September, CEPS, ECRI, and ECMI held an event on the future of financial policy in Europe, bringing together a diverse group of experts, policymakers, supervisors, and academics. The event aimed to examine the evolving financial landscape and address the challenges that lie ahead for the European Union's financial sector.
September is a packed month of European political developments, as anticipated following the June European elections. Brussels has been particularly busy with the unveiling of portfolios of the new European Commission college by President-elect Ursula von der Leyen, with a full presentation to the European Parliament of the plans for 2024-2029.
The representatives of the EU Member States are currently negotiating a proposal from the EU Commission for a Council Regulation on the mutual recognition of parenthood in the EU. The planned regulation aims to ensure that the parenthood of a child that is legally established in one EU member state is also recognised by the other member states.
In July 2024, the European Commission decided to refer Germany to the Court of Justice of the European Union for failing to uphold the rights of mobile workers from other EU Member States as regards the amount of family benefits granted to them.
COFACE Spanish member, UNAF (Unión de Asociaciones Familiares) has launched the campaign ‘Mute your machismo’, which aims to raise awareness among teenagers about sexism in video games and to prevent discrimination and violence against female gamers with macho comments and behaviour.
Ethnic segregation is a widespread and systematic practice in many European countries. These practices are illegal yet continue to shape the lives of children and families across Europe. Our rights to education, housing, and health, ostensibly enjoyed by us all, remain divided along ethnic lines. For many Roma, their enjoyment of these rights is severely limited, often with the tacit support of the state.
On 6-9th June 2024, Europeans voted to renew the European Parliament and new Members of European Parliament (MEP) will convene for the first time in Plenary mid-July in Strasbourg, France. While the European People’s Party (EPP), European Conservatives (ECR) and Identify and Democracy Group (ID) have seen an increase in seats, the Greens and Renew Europe have had significant losses. The Socialists have maintained around the same number of seats. The biggest increase has been for the non-aligned MEPs which are a heterogenous group, yet with most of them coming from the far right.
EU policy-makers must ensure that all families are given support and guidance to access and navigate the digital environment in a meaningful way. This includes strong legal frameworks as well as strong and “low-threshold” evidence-based support and prevention measures for families. COFACE has produced a policy brief highlighting the importance of digital technologies for children and their families, and analysing whether existing and currently debated EU frameworks aimed at ensuring safe and empowering digital experiences for children integrate a families perspective.
