This recommendations of the EU Alliance for Investing in Children’s (Alliance) focus on consolidating the European Child Guarantee, European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan, EU Anti-Poverty Strategy, and the future EU budget (2028-2035). We advocate for a bold, integrated, and adequately funded approach to eradicate child poverty.
Time for ambition: The EU needs a strong Social Fund to live up to its commitments The European Union has begun talks on the next long-term EU Budget, which will determine how billions of euros are invested in Europe’s future. Initial discussions suggest potential...
As part of the European Semester, the Joint Employment Report 2025 emphasises that participation in ECEC under three is improving but at a very low pace, calling for renewed efforts in line with the European Child Guarantee, the European Care Strategy and the Council Recommendation on ECEC.
In November 2024, COFACE member organisation APF France launched its second season of the short TV programme “Tous en scène pour le Handicap” (All on Stage for Disability)”. After the success of its first season in 2023, 10 new artists and public figures have taken the stage to humorously share real-life stories experienced by members of APF France.
Housing is a fundamental social need and right, essential for human development, identity, and belonging. However, many Europeans struggle to find affordable housing, which affects not only the most vulnerable but also those who earn too much to qualify for social housing yet too little to afford private market accommodations comfortably.
COFACE is co-leading the Transnational Family Dynamics in Europe network’s policy group, which recently published a policy brief on the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum. It contributes to the ongoing debate on the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum (hereinafter ‘the Pact’), which was adopted in Spring 2024.
Social investments and reforms in key areas can boost employment, social inclusion, competitiveness and economic growth. This is the main finding of the Commission’s 2024 Employment and Social Developments in Europe (ESDE) report.
On 13 September 2024, Unapei’s Europe Commission held a pivotal seminar in Paris, bringing together members of the Unapei network and their European partners, including COFACE Families Europe. Unapei’s Europe Commission is dedicated to addressing EU political developments related to the rights and inclusion of people with disabilities and their families, with a focus on positively influencing these issues.
COFACE monitors closely the implementation of the strategy in both care service fields: early childhood education and care (ECEC), and long-term care (LTC). For ECEC, we monitor especially measures taken through the European Child Guarantee national action plans, working with the Alliance for Investing in Children. For LTC, we do this together with a European care advocacy alliance of more than 20 NGOs and trade unions.
Europe is ageing and is facing a digital revolution. While AGE recognise and value the positive change new technologies can bring, the European platform is also conscious of, and has experienced, the barriers created by too rapid digitalisation and the impact it has on our autonomy, participation and dignity.
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.
The #AccessibleEU Centre features a growing online depository with nearly 200 good practices on different areas of #accessibility from all over Europe. It aims to create a common European one-stop-shop on accessibility, build the capacity on accessibility in EU countries, train excellent professionals on accessibility and much more.
In the run-up to the 29th October UN international day of care and support, this European round table hosted by the COFACE Disability and the European Committee of teh Regions will foster debate on the realities and support needs of family carers in the European Union today.
This working group meeting aims to explore the impact of globalisation on family structures, identify the challenges faced by transnational families, discuss relevant EU developments, and promote collaboration among stakeholders to enhance support systems for these families.
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.
Since 2017, the City of Paris has implemented a digital inclusion strategy with numerous partners, aiming to use digital technology as a lever for social integration. In 2024, COFACE member Unaf participated in the launch of the week-long event dedicated to digital parenting titled “My Child and Screens” and brought its 20 years of field experience and expertise to the discussions
This online meeting is open to COFACE members and partners working on financial inclusion matters. It will feature speakers from the COFACE secretariat, Finance Watch and Single parents foundation Isadora Duncan (Spain).
COFACE has the ambition to shape together a strong social Europe fit for families and foster a European society that is more inclusive, offers equal opportunities and brings everyone forward.
In preparation of the next European elections on 6-9th June 2024, here are ten specific actions we would like to see integrated in the programme of the European Union.
On 14 and 15 April, COFACE Families Europe participated in the Social Summit on the Future of Social Europe that took place in the small Belgian village of La Hulpe. The purpose of the high-level conference was to sign an inter-institutional declaration, with the ultimate goal of shaping the future social agenda of the European Union for period of 2024-2029.
Earlier this year, Sven Iversen, COFACE Vice President and Managing Director of Association of German Family Organisations (AGF) and Elena Gußmann, the project coordinator of the National Family Forum, presented the final publication “Support structures for families – objectives, access, services” to the Chairwoman of the ‘Family Affairs Committee’ in the Bundestag, Ulrike Bahr.
In January 2024, the first ministerial meeting under the Belgian Presidency of the European Union brought together the Ministers for Employment and Social Affairs in the Walloon capital of Namur. During the first day, Ministers discussed how social policies should be reflected in the strategic agenda of the EU institutions after the European elections.
The rEUsilience project under Horizon Europe (with COFACE as an intergral partner), has recently presented its latest findings from focus groups involving over 300 family members across six European countries (Belgium, Croatia, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom). These insights delve into the realities families encounter amidst socio-economic risks like job loss and substantial care responsibilities.
It is our pleasure to welcome and introduce COFACE’s newest member who is joining us from Belgium (Flanders) to contribute to positive outcomes for families in a changing society. Read on to learn more about the great work and expertise of Parents for Inclusion (Ouders voor Inclusie).
On the morrow of the UN International day for the Rights of Children, the European Parliament adopted an important text for children and their families. The Own Initiative report on Reducing inequalities and promoting social inclusion in times of crisis for children and their families received 386 votes in favours for 87 against and 141 abstention.
This online expert meeting will bring together speakers from the EU institutions, and ministries working on the Child Guarantee and COFACE member organisations, in order to discuss tools for monitoring and evaluation of Child Guarantee implementation.
On 27th September 2023, COFACE intervened at a conference organised by the Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union on the topic of social protection of families.The Spanish Ministry of Social Rights and 2030 Agenda and Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations brought together a wide range of Spanish, European and international speakers to look at existing data on family models and explored different policy solutions.
Join EU institution representatives, national policymakers, Ministers, business leaders, social partners, civil society, and academia as they delve into the dynamic realm of artificial intelligence and its impact on the world of work.
As international stakeholders gather in Warsaw today for the International Annual Conference on Energy Poverty to address the multifaceted challenges of energy poverty, it is crucial for the EU and its governments to act swiftly for a families-sensitive approach to energy policy and planning. This includes integrated policy solutions that combine energy and social policies which are vital in preparation for the winter ahead. COFACE has developed a policy brief.
The EU and its governments must act swiftly for a families-sensitive approach to energy policy and planning. This includes integrated policy solutions that combine energy and social policies - these are vital in addressing the multifaceted nature of energy poverty....
As we reflect on the past year, we cannot ignore the unprecedented circumstances that shaped our journey. Throughout this transformative year, our unwavering ambition has been to shape a robust social Europe that truly caters to the needs of families.
This European expert meeting co-hosted with UNAF Spain will provide an overview of the social rights of families, identify any gaps in eligibility or family policy designs, and consider what adaptations of social protection systems and EU policies are needed.
The European Commission’s Directorate General for Education and Culture (DG EAC) published the final report of its Fifth European Summit which is an annual event attended by EU officials, member states ministers and education stakeholders. The report summarises the main topics discussed at this high-level event which focuses on key trends in education and training.
The Eurobarometer is a collection of cross-country public opinion surveys conducted regularly on behalf of the EU Institutions since 1974. In a newly released Eurobarometer survey, it is revealed that most EU citizens overwhelmingly support strong action at EU and national level and more social spending.
The European Child Guarantee, to reduce child poverty and social exclusion, requires that the individual EU Member States each develop a National Action Plan (NAP) with country-specific measures for implementation. Member States had to submit their NAP by the 15th of March 2022. One year after the deadline for Member States to submit their NAP, these plans are still missing from eight Member States (Austria, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia).
The online exchange for COFACE and COFACE Disability members will especially focus on child-staff ratio in ECEC as a primary driver for child well-being and family engagement.
As well as collecting data on families via different expert meetings (see the different meeting reports available on the website), COFACE actively builds bridges with research institutions through formal partnerships under Horizon Europe, and by advising different European research projects on work-life balance, the impact of digital transformations on children, early childhood education and care, long-term care and more. COFACE also supports academic institutions to build new research projects on social rights.
This new report presents the findings of COFACE Families Europe’s transposition assessment carried out together with national experts from 10 Member States representing a geographical and welfare mix: Belgium, Croatia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Poland and Spain.
Designing welfare policies requires a deep understanding of complex social and economic phenomena. Phenomena that are often hard to be fully captured by conventional economic models and metrics such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Thus, over the last years, the academic community has tried to address this issue through the development of a beyond-GDP agenda.
We are an organisation that works for the rights of all families in Europe since 1958. In short, we are called ‘COFACE’. We wrote this easy-to-read booklet to talk about our aims for 2020-2024.
Brussels, 7th March 2021 First impressions by Elizabeth Gosme, Director of COFACE Families Europe Twenty principles, three headline 2030 targets, a revised EU Social Scoreboard, a clear timeline of initiatives, and a shared political commitment and responsibility from...
New social rights, consolidation of existing social rights, and some missed opportunities COFACE assessment of the EU work-life balance directive The agreement on the EU Work-Life Balance Directive on 24th January 2019, its adoption by the European Parliament...
Making the European Pillar of Social Rights a reality for Europe’s families: mind the gap This COFACE seminar brought together key EU-level stakeholders, and published a discussion paper to kick off the debate. Session 1: How to take the EU Pillar of Social Rights to...
The first section of the discussion paper focuses on the content of the future Pillar, drawing out the policy principles which in our opinion are most relevant to address the immediate needs of families and challenges related to demographic changes in the last decade. The second section discusses process-related elements of the future Pillar, with a focus on the scope of the Pillar, on ways to make the Pillar relevant at local level, and how to ensure the link with other ongoing EU legislative processes.
