Breakfast Meeting | SMEs and Family Welfare: a challenge for the future of Europe
January 20, 2020 - January 21, 2020
INVITATION
SMEs and Family Welfare: a challenge for the future of Europe
Salon ASP 0G, European Parliament, Brussels
Tuesday, 21 January 2020, 8:00 – 9:30
RSVP by the 15h of January 2020 by answering to info@fafce.org
(please provide your ID details if you don’t have an EP badge)
DRAFT PROGRAM
8.00 – 8.10
Opening address:
Karlo Ressler, MEP (EPP, Croatia)
8.10 – 8.20
Introductory remarks:
Vincenzo Bassi, FAFCE President
8.20 – 8.30
Key-note speech:
Paul Dembinski, University of Freiburg
8.30 – 9.20
Exchange of views with the participation of:
Clotilde Armand, MEP (RE, Romania)
Helmut Geuking, MEP (ECR, Germany)
Patrizia Toia, MEP (S&D, Italy)
Anna Nagy, President, Single Parents’ Families Foundation (Hungary)
Deša Srsen, Member of the Cabinet of Vice-President Dubravka Šuica (European Commission)
9.20 – 9.30
Final remarks
Johannes de Jong, Sallux Director
Language: English
BACKGROUND NOTE
According to a white paper prepared by a joint group of researchers, with the support of the SALLUX Foundation, “Short-terminism is destroying values in our economy (Martin, 2015) and is undermining efforts to implement sustainable development policies (Lehner et al. 2016). Families have always trained their members to reach out for the long-term perspective, to think about in terms of generations cycles and to foresee beyond one’s own life horizon. On the other hand, there exists evidence that family troubles and brake-downs predict both higher risk taking and higher future time discounting (Hill et al 2008) in children”.
This breakfast meeting is built on these foundations, from the specific perspective of SMEs and with a focus on corporate welfare services, which can be considered as a new form of compensation, convenient for enterprises, for employees and for the society at large.
Nevertheless, these services are often unaffordable for SMEs and represent a real burden on a short-term economic perspective. Here is where public policies and the sharing of best practices at the EU level can offer solutions: in the midst of a concerning demographic change, this exchange becomes fundamental for the future of our Continent. One month after the official start of the new European Commission, this is an excellent occasion to speak with clarity about these concrete challenges.
FAFCE – Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe
Founded in 1997 the FAFCE represents family organisations from 16 European Countries, holds a participatory status with the Council of Europe and is a member of the EU Fundamental Rights Platform.
SALLUX
Sallux wants to build bridges between the opposites and to find common ground as we need a relational approach to life, economy and society. Sallux presents solutions and will not stay on the safe side of the status quo, by organising events and distribute relevant publications. Since 2011, the activities of Sallux have been financially supported by the European Parliament. The liability for any communication or publication by Sallux, in any form and any medium, rests with Sallux. The European Parliament is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
