The Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs (EPSCO) Council adopted a conclusion in Brussels under the German presidency to establish a European Alliance for Families. "This decision to establish the alliance shows the Member States' commitment to more family-friendly policies in Europe," said the President-in office of the Council, Federal Minister Ursula von der Leyen.
Against the background of demographic change in Europe, the European Union's heads of states and governments had already approved the Germany presidency's proposal to establish a European Alliance for Families at their Spring Summit on 8 and 9 March 2007. Today's decision marks the beginning of the implementation of this alliance. One aim of the discussion was to clearly define the national aspects of structuring the alliance and, at the same time, to promote know-how transfer between Member States and make optimum use of existing instruments and alliance partners.
The ministers also adopted conclusions on the situation of men and women at universities and the transition from education to employment. They agreed on selected indicators on the progress made in the area of equal opportunities in education, and that there should be a greater focus on the equality aspects of 'lifelong learning' and 'the integration of migrants into the educational systems' in the future. "Education is a human right and an important instrument for achieving the objectives of equality, development and peace." The EPSCO Council under the German presidency is picking up on this statement that was made at the 1995 World Conference on Women's Platform for Action.
Although women and men in the European Union are now on a par with each other when it comes to school graduation, and in some cases the women have overtaken the men, there are still striking gender differences in tertiary education. The same applies to choice of university course, academic careers and employment statistics.
The conclusions call for measures
The council also discussed an interim report of the Social Protection Committee on Social Services of General Interest. The report is based on a survey of all Member States relating to the Commission communication that was published last year on "Implementing the Community Lisbon Programme: Social Services of General Interest in the European Union". Federal Minister Ursula von der Leyen made it very clear that, "The German council presidency believes that social services are an indispensable element in ensuring European cohesion and social security." Demographic change, the socio-structural changes to living conditions and forms and changes to the economic and fiscal frameworks make it necessary to modernise social services. Von der Leyen continued, "I aim to sustain the efficiency of social services, to ensure their constant high quality and to give all sectors of the population access to them. I'm very pleased to say that all Member States are unanimous on this basic strategy."
