Paris, 21 October 2022
From the 18th to the 20th of October 2022, FAFCE held its bi-annual Board Meeting in Paris. More than 50 delegates from 32 Member organisations and coming from 22 European countries gathered to exchange on their respective activities and on the work of the Federation at the European level.
FAFCE Board focused this year on the intergenerational solidarity within families. It follows the proposal by the European Commission to revise the Barcelona targets on formal childcare in Europe, with an objective to achieve 50% of children below the age of 3 in early childhood education and care, and 96% of children between the age of 3 and the starting age for compulsory primary education in early childhood education and care by 2030. FAFCE Board adopted a Resolution on “Family unpaid care work: the heart of intergenerational solidarity” that “rejects a one-sided solution to childcare in Europe, which, under the rightful wish to support the family-work life balance of parents, aims to ensure their maximum employment rate, at the expense of families and in the long run of the sustainability of our labour markets”. 
FAFCE Board reelected its Bureau for the next 3 years:
  • Vincenzo Bassi, President (Forum of Family Associations, Italy)
  • Cornel Barbut, Vice-President (‘Vladimir Ghika’ Catholic Families’ Association, Romania)
  • Angelika Weichsel Mitterutzner, Second Vice-President (South Tyrol Catholic Family Association, Italy)
  • Antoine Renard, Honorary President (Confederation of Catholic Family Associations, France)
  • Alfred Trendl, Treasurer (Catholic Family Association, Austria)

FAFCE Board also accepted as new Members within the Federation: the Zavod Iskreni (Slovenia) as Full Member, and the Plataforma per la Família Catalunya-ONU (Spain), that was accepted as Associated Member.

On the 18th of October FAFCE Board Members had an exchange of views with the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the UNESCO, Mgr Éric Soviguidi, focusing on the role of the UNESCO when it comes to family matters, and the mission of our Federation in questions related to culture and education.

On the 19th of October 2022, FAFCE Board celebrated a mass at the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, presided by Archbishop Celestino Migliore, Apostolic Nuncio to France: they thus entrusted their work for families in Europe to the intercession of the Virgin Mary.

On the 20th of October 2022, FAFCE and its French Member Organisation, the National Confederation of Catholic Family Associations (CNAFC) organized the first international edition of the General States of Birth. FAFCE President, Vincenzo Bassi, declared: “We need a change of paradigm, with a focus on the family. We need to recognise the value of the unpaid work of parents and family members. The basic question of all these exchanges today can be summarised as: what place do we give to parents to be parents, to families to be families, in today’s society? […] Can we quantify the happiness that families create for our communities?”.

The Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Democracy and Demography, Dubravka Šuica, the Czech Vice-Prime Minister and Minister for Labour and Social Affairs, Marián Jurečka, and the French High-Commissioner for Planning, François Bayrou, addressed in a video message their support to the event. The conference saw the participation of high-level demographers, philosopher and civil society representatives from all over Europe.