PRESS RELEASE
European Council on Demographic Challenges and Competitiveness
Brussels, 1st of July 2023
“It is an important act of awareness, which will allow the European Commission to implement proposals to tackle the demographic imbalance. It is extremely appropriate for the demographic questions to be treated as an urgent matter of economic and international relevance, also under the perspective of competitiveness. There is no sustainable development without intergenerational balance. Therefore, it is ridiculous to talk about growth and economic development if our countries no longer have children: the productive capacity of a community is assessed primarily by its ability to generate and welcome new human lives. We cannot limit ourselves to a mere management of the demographic transition: realistic solutions can be found, putting families and family networks at the centre, key factors of social and economic cohesion”.
This is the statement of the President of the Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe (FAFCE), Vincenzo Bassi, following the publication of the Conclusions of the European Council, which invites the European Commission “to present a toolbox to address demographic challenges and notably their impact on Europe`s competitive edge“.
Since the beginning of this European mandate, FAFCE has closely followed and supported the initiatives contributing to a new demographic spring, as hoped by Pope Francis.
Vincenzo Bassi concluded: “We hope that the Commission, during its last year of work, will offer concrete tools, useful to those who will come after the European elections of June 2024, not to create a monolithic and unrealistic family policy, but to support the Member States in recognizing the fundamental role of the family”.
