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Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe

FAFCE

FAFCE is a federation representing 32 Catholic family associations to the European Union.

Lobbying Activity

Meeting with Tomislav Sokol (Member of the European Parliament)

4 Nov 2025 · Freedom of Belief and Religion Policy

FAFCE warns EU against overstepping on LGBTIQ equality strategy

20 Jun 2025
Topic — The European Commission is consulting on a new strategy for LGBTIQ equality.
Message — FAFCE demands the EU respect national sovereignty over family law and education. The organization opposes an EU-wide ban on conversion practices, preferring national legislation. It argues private sexual choices should not guide public policies.123
Why — This helps the group preserve traditional family legal frameworks within individual member states.45
Impact — LGBTIQ individuals lose consistent EU-wide protection against discrimination and harmful conversion practices.67
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Meeting with Marco La Marca (Cabinet of Commissioner Dubravka Šuica)

13 Feb 2025 · Demography.

Meeting with Malika Sorel (Member of the European Parliament)

5 Feb 2025 · Le défi de la démographie dans l'Union européenne

Meeting with Catherine Griset (Member of the European Parliament)

5 Feb 2025 · Echange sur les politiques pour soutenir la démographie européenne et la protection des mineurs

Meeting with Antonella Sberna (Member of the European Parliament)

8 Oct 2024 · Promoting Family Support: A Collective Approach to Strengthening Families, Parents, the Elderly, and Future Generations, Gender Equality Week 2024

FAFCE urges EU ban on pornography to protect minors

30 Sept 2024
Topic — The Commission is drafting guidelines for online platforms to ensure high levels of minor protection.
Message — FAFCE urges an EU ban on pornography and mandatory age verification under penalty of immediate blocking. They demand that family associations be consulted at all stages of legislative development.123
Why — This would grant family associations more influence over EU policy and educational training.45
Impact — Pornography providers would face service bans and the risk of immediate website blocking.67
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Meeting with Dubravka Šuica (Vice-President)

17 Jul 2024 · Courtesy meeting

Meeting with Davor Ivo Stier (Member of the European Parliament)

17 Jul 2024 · Intergroup ''Demography, family work life balance and next generations''

Meeting with Lukas Mandl (Member of the European Parliament)

16 Jul 2024 · Demography

Meeting with Miriam Lexmann (Member of the European Parliament)

9 Jul 2024 · Future EP initiatives on demography

Catholic Family Federation demands EU include pornography and surrogacy

21 May 2024
Topic — The EU is reviewing legislative proposals to combat child sexual abuse and exploitation.
Message — The organization calls for including the consumption of pornography and surrogacy as explicit forms of child abuse. They also advocate for banning mobile devices in schools and recognizing parents as primary educators in prevention efforts.123
Why — The proposed changes would grant these religious family associations greater formal advisory and participatory powers.45
Impact — The surrogacy industry and online platforms would face increased criminal liability and potential site blocking.67
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FAFCE Urges EU to Classify Surrogacy as Human Trafficking

13 Mar 2024
Topic — Proposed EU regulation to enhance police cooperation against migrant smuggling and human trafficking.
Message — The federation requests that surrogacy be included in the list of human trafficking crimes. They call for specialized police units and data sharing to investigate the exploitation of motherhood.12
Why — This would advance their mission to end the perceived commodification of women and children.3
Impact — Agencies and prospective parents would face criminalization and intensive police surveillance across Europe.4
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Response to European Disability Card

13 Nov 2023

The Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe (FAFCE) welcomes the work of the European Commission to propose the creation of a European Disability Card that will be recognised in all Member States and that will make it easier for persons with disabilities to move freely from one country to another in the European Union. This initiative was announced in the framework of the EU Strategy for the rights of persons with disabilities 2021-2030 of the European Commission. Our Federation has been calling for the protection of the dignity and the life of every human person, particularly the most vulnerable, regardless of his or her mental, physical or intellectual disability. Please find attached the full feedback.
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Response to Integrated child protection systems

20 Oct 2023

Child protection needs to be in the spotlight of policy priorities. Our Federation considers that a holistic approach should be the focus, not only holistic in the sources of risks for children to violence and abuse, but also on the actions, always including parents and families, as well as family associations, in the development and implementation of policy actions. In this regard, our Federation would like to propose the following actions to be included in order to have a child protection integrated systems: The role of families and parents: 1) Empower parents in their role to prevent, assess and remedy to online risks in the education of their children, stressing that parents have the primary role and responsibility in the education of their children; 2) Stress the right of parents and family associations to have a voice in the adoption of school curricula, in conformity with their religious, philosophical and pedagogical convictions as protected in Article 14.3 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights; 3) Invest in and support preventive campaigns on the risks connected to the self-generated sexually explicit content by children, and the impact of pornogrpahy consumtion in this regard. Our Federation will propose a set of policy initiatives along the public consultation. It considers the these proposals to be a condition sine qua non for which an integrated system of child protection can become a reality, coordinating at the EU level when necessary, as well as with due respect to the principle of subsidiarity and of the rights of families and parents. Protecting children necessarily has to touch upon sexual violence, as well as poverty, addictive behaviour, human trafficking and mental health. 4) Develop a human-centred approach to mental health, focusing on the human dignity of each child, and their families, recognising the role of families and informal care, including in access to adequate and effective prevention for children and youth to mental health issues; 5) Highlight the primary role and responsibility of parents in the prevention, early warning of mental health problems and caring of children with mental health; recognise the role of civil society, particularly families and family networks and associations, both financially and with necessary means to prevent and heal mental health issues; 6) Impulse studies demonstrating the addictive behaviors that internet devices, particularly with sexual content material, have on children, and recognize online addiction in the official list and as a potential source of mental health disorder; 7) Promote the development of National Action Plans to support families, family networks and associations and schools at the forefront of suicice; 8) Launch an impact assessment on the contribution of oversexualization and consumption of online pornography to the creation of harmful stereotypes and criminal behaviours, as well as on mental health, especially towards children; 9) Undergo an in-depth analysis on the roots of mental health distress on young generations, taking into consideration the impact of digitalisation and demographic change, digital addictive behaviour, cyber violence, sexual abuse, no work-life balance and youth unemployment; 10) Take into consideration the impact of the well-being of pregnant women on the mental health of their children, also before birth; 11) Establish the Sunday as a weekly day of common rest, thus favouring cohesion. 12)Promote family-based taxation systems in order to prevent the unequal treatment of parents and carers; in this regard, consider benefits for families as investments in the public debt balance, instead of public spending which contributed to state budget deficit; 13) Support the effective implementation of the EU Member-States national laws that require them to forbid the access of online pornography to minor; 14) Promote a EU-ban on pornography.
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Response to EU Citizenship Report 2023

12 Jul 2023

The Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe (FAFCE) welcomes the European Commission public consultation on EU citizenship and non-discrimination for the 2023 EU Citizenship Report. The Federation would like to draw the attention to the evidence on the crucial role of families in the democratic and demographic future of Europe, particularly on the democratic participation and civic engagement, on citizens empowerment and education as well as on the inclusion of citizens in the EU. Families are the basic communities where EU citizenship rights can be exercised and protected, even more during times of crisis, such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Families therefore deserve a clear recognition in the report for their role. To the attention of the European Commission, our Federation would like to express the following policy observations to be included in the EU Citizenship report: (i) to recognise the irreplaceable and primary role of parents as educators, enhancing education of children in EU citizenship rights, obligations and values as future citizens, acknowledging that the best way to ensure democracy is through education of future generations; (ii) to strengthen family policies in order to achieve solid advancement of democratic life and values, and non-discrimination, particularly fostering work-life balance for parents and carers, strengthening maternity and paternity policies and enhancing real policies on equality between men and women; (iii) to recognize the role of Christian families, as democratic principles derive from the Christian experience of human dignity; (iv) to value the democratic role of civil society organizations, especially family associations, and their contribution to a more direct and participative democracy in Europe, for instance in representing families and individuals before the European Ombudsman, or assisting in exercising the right to petition; (v) to protect the freedom of expression and conscience of all civil society organizations, also those whose work is based on Christian values and who experience discrimination and attacks based on these grounds. Please find attached the full text of the FAFCE contribution to this public consultation.
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Response to Recommendation on covert interference from third countries

13 Apr 2023

FAFCE welcomes the initiative of the European Commission on Defence of Democracy package to strengthen resilience to covert foreign interference in our democratic life and encourage civic engagement in our democracies and supports the attention devoted by the European Commission to nurturing, protecting and strengthening our democracy. Our Federation would like to bring 3 policy recommendations to the attention of the European Commission: 1) to recognise the irreplaceable role of family in educating their children as future citizens as the best way to ensure that democracy is rooted among future generations; 2) to value the democratic role of civil society organisation, especially family associations, and their contribution to a more direct and participate democracy in Europe; 3) to protect the freedom of expression and conscience of all civil society organisations, especially those whose work is based on Christian values and who experience discrimination and attacks based on these grounds. Please find attached the full text of contribution.
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Catholic family group urges EU to classify surrogacy as trafficking

21 Mar 2023
Topic — The consultation reviews European Union rules on preventing and combating human trafficking.
Message — The federation requests that reproductive exploitation through surrogacy be explicitly added to the directive. They claim the practice involves the commercialization of women and the sale of children.12
Why — This would advance the federation's advocacy goal of prohibiting commercial surrogacy across Europe.3
Impact — Fertility clinics and intended parents would face criminalization and restricted access to services.45
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Catholic Family Federation Urges EU to Prioritize Demographics

13 Mar 2023
Topic — The consultation seeks input for the 2023 Strategic Foresight Report on sustainability.
Message — FAFCE calls for recognizing families as the main driver of sustainability. They want demographic crises addressed alongside digital and green transitions. The federation advocates for valuing unpaid care and flexible work arrangements.123
Why — Prioritizing families would secure more institutional support and funding for traditional structures.45
Impact — Individualistic social models lose influence as policies prioritize family-based resource management.6
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European Sunday Alliance urges common EU day of rest

15 Feb 2023
Topic — The consultation explores a new comprehensive EU strategy for mental health.
Message — They propose establishing a weekly common day of rest for all citizens. Synchronized time off allows workers to bond and recover from stress. This measure would act as a vital tool to counter loneliness.12
Why — A common rest day would support the religious and family traditions they represent.3
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Catholic family federation urges EU to reject automatic parenthood recognition

8 Feb 2023
Topic — A proposal to ensure that parenthood established in one Member State is recognized in others.
Message — The federation requests that the EU use individual court cases instead of a broad new law. They want legislators to respect national control over family rules and strongly oppose any recognition of surrogacy.123
Why — This approach helps maintain national family law traditions and blocks the legal acceptance of surrogacy.45
Impact — Families using surrogacy would lose the guarantee of uniform legal recognition across all EU countries.6
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Meeting with Ildikó Voller-Szenci (Cabinet of Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi)

16 Dec 2022 · Situation of the youth and young families in the Western Balkans

Response to European Year of Skills 2023

14 Dec 2022

In our role of stakeholders and partners of the EU institutions, Don Bosco International (DBI), the Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe (FAFCE) and the Commission of the Bishops Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) contribute with this written input to the open consultation on the European Commissions proposal on the Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on a European Year of Skills 2023. Our work in the areas of education and training in Brussels and the local presence of our members in the EU encourages us to contribute to the initiative launched by the President of the European Commission in September 2022. While appreciating this new initiative, especially after the European Year of Youth 2022, we would like to propose our perspective and recommendations to make the European Year of Skills more holistic and inclusive of the various aspects that characterise education and training. The attached joint contribution gathers our suggestions and recommendations for the European Year of Skills.
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Catholic family group urges stricter rules against online abuse

12 Sept 2022
Topic — The consultation addresses new EU rules for detecting and reporting child sexual abuse online.
Message — The federation supports mandatory detection of both known and new abuse material, including grooming. They also advocate for stricter age verification on pornographic websites and greater inclusion of parents.123
Why — Family associations would obtain a formal, primary role in shaping EU child-related policies.4
Impact — Service providers and pornographic platforms would face substantial technical and financial compliance burdens.56
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Response to Brain drain communication

21 Jun 2022

The Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe (FAFCE) welcomes the work of the European Commission to improve its cohesion policy in rural areas, especially with regard to brain drain and depopulation. FAFCE encourages the European Union to help address the problem of low fertility rates, brain drain, depopulation, and ageing, notably by designing and implementing family policies to increase the attractiveness of rural regions. Worth is to mention that the depopulation in rural areas is only a symptom of the demographic winter touching all Europe. Additionally, rural families tend to face additional challenges: parents struggle to have a work-life balance and access to childcare care services, the elderly are often isolated from both long-term care systems and social life, and the youth lacks access to education, job opportunities and to adequate support for their transition to family life. A comprehensive answer to demographic challenges in rural areas must attack the root issues of rural depopulation: lower fertility rates and brain drain. Family policies allow to kill two birds with a stone: they support a fertility rate aligned to the wish of families free from economic constrains, and they encourage the long-term settlement of families in those areas for several generations, thus creating a network of solidarity for the elderly.
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Response to Proposal for a Council Recommendation on long-term care

29 Mar 2022

The pandemic brought to light the structural weaknesses of our care systems in Europe, and the much-needed reforms. At the same time, it highlighted the resilience of the unpaid care produced by families. A structural shift is needed in the way care is perceived, starting with the recognition of the care role of families, as the first partner of public institutions when it comes to care. This recognition also supposes for the EU and its Member-States to invest in informal forms of care provided by the family. Our Federation wishes to bring to the attention of the European Commission several points: 1. Informal family care is the most common form of care, however overlooked; 2. The work-life balance of parents and carers requires a flexible labour market; 3. Women carers provide a higher share in care work, yet face additional discriminations; 4. Families in remote and rural areas face additional difficulties in the access to care services; 5. Family networks and family associations are key to support the care role of families; 6. Intergenerational solidarity is a sustainable solution for the increased need sustainable long-term care in Europe; 7. Intergenerational solidarity is only possible with a demographic balance.
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Response to Update of the Better Internet for Children Strategy (BIK Strategy)

28 Oct 2021

There have been significant technological changes for the past decades, with an exponential growth in online sharing and communications. Most children, and at an earlier age, use their online devices on an almost constant basis. However, online activity can expose children to risks such as cyberbullying, access to age-inappropriate content, “self-generated” sexually explicit content (sexting), solicitation for the purposes of sexual exploitation (grooming), and child sexual abuse and exploitation. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these trends, as it led to a further increase in use of online devices by children. FAFCE welcomes the commitment of the European Commission to ensure a better internet for children. At the same time, it regrets that, as for today, the 2011 EU directive on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography is still today largely not implemented by EU Member-States: 23 Member- States are currently under infringement procedures for non-implementation of this EU directive. Yet, the directive has been in place for over nine years. The inherent cross-border nature of many digital services used by children calls for an EU-wide answer against online child sexual abuse. In the context of the revision of the EU rules on the fight against child sexual abuse, FAFCE calls for an updated EU directive, as the best level of action against such dangers, in virtue of Article 3(3) and (5) of the TEU and Article 24 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, and in the respect of the subsidiarity principle, to ensure the protection of children in the digital environment. Following the Commission’s general Strategy on the Rights of the Child adopted in March 2021 and the Council recommendation establishing a European Child Guarantee adopted on June 2021, FAFCE recalled and reiterates today its call to empower families, who are the first, most direct and most efficient actor when it comes to ensure the wellbeing of children, and to assess and remedy to online and offline risks they may face in their life. In addition, FAFCE wishes to suggest several points of contribution to the update of Better internet for children strategy (BIC), and calls the European Commission to: 1. Assess the roots causes of the increase in child sexual abuse, with a focus on online pornography and the over-sexualisation of children in the media and advertising sectors; 2. Address and prevent self-generated sexually explicit contents; 3. Effectively deny the access of minors to age-inappropriate content and online pornography; 4. Empower parents to prevent, assess and remedy to online risks in the education of their children.
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Response to Strengthening the principle of equal pay between men and women through pay transparency

5 Oct 2021

The Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe welcomes the Commission’s proposal for a directive to “strengthen the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women through pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms”. FAFCE strongly supports this initiative, and encourages the Commission to lay down concrete solutions to make sure that every worker can benefit from an equal pay for an equal work. FAFCE also welcomes the overall aim of the Commission to ensure “the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of sex through pay transparency and reinforced enforcement mechanism” (Article 1 of the Commission’s proposal). FAFCE would like to submit five recommendations that we would like to see reflected in the future directive and its implementation across the European Union: 1. Respect the principle of proportionality when it comes to the additional administrative costs implied by pay transparency mechanisms; 2. Consider the significant impact of parental leaves on a worker’s pay; 3. Have a special focus on the discriminations faced by mothers when it comes to sex discriminations within the workplace; 4. Start a reflection on the recognition of the unpaid care work when speaking of “work of equal value”;
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Meeting with Toma Šutić (Cabinet of Vice-President Dubravka Šuica)

24 Jun 2021 · Overview of the FAFCE activities and manifestos of the last years and follow-up to the most recent webinar on democracy

Catholic family federation urges EU to respect national parenthood laws

11 May 2021
Topic — EU initiative aims to ensure parenthood established in one Member State is recognised in others.
Message — FAFCE argues that Member States must retain exclusive competence to define marriage and parenthood. They oppose automatic recognition of parenthood, particularly for surrogacy, to protect national legal sovereignty.123
Why — This would prevent EU-level mandates from forcing member states to recognize non-traditional family structures.4
Impact — Children of same-sex parents risk losing legal protections when their family moves across borders.5
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Meeting with Astrid Dentler (Cabinet of Vice-President Dubravka Šuica), Deša Srsen (Cabinet of Vice-President Dubravka Šuica)

12 Feb 2021 · Follow up meeting (of VP and FAFCE Secretary general) on demography and the future of Europe

Response to Child sexual abuse online: detection, removal and reporting

18 Dec 2020

The Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe (FAFCE) represents 28 national and local associations: we are the voice of families from a Catholic perspective at the European level. FAFCE holds a participatory status with the Council of Europe since 2002 and is a member of the Fundamental Rights Platform of the European Union. On 9 June 2020, European Commissioner Johansson recalled the worrying reality of online threats for children: “In the last ten years, reports of online child sexual abuse material in Europe increased from 23,000 to 800,000. Last year, Europe became the global blackspot in hosting child sexual abuse images: nearly 90 per cent of websites is hosted in the European Union. […] During Covid, reports show a further increase in online child sexual abuse in Europe and in the United States”. In a context of lockdown and online schooling, children spend more time on the Internet and criminals take advantage of this eased access to perpetrate online grooming, sexual extortion and the coercion of children. We welcome the work of the European Union to fight child sexual abuse, and would like to bring to the attention of the European Commission 5 actions points with regards to the fight against child sexual abuse: 1. The fight against the production and the diffusion of child sexual abuse material starts with the effective implementation of existing EU law; 2. The over-sexualisation of children in the media is a root cause for child sexual abuse that needs be acknowledged and legislatively forbidden; 3. Children’s self-produced sexual images and videos provides content to abusers and must be prevented through prevention and education, namely by empowering parents and family associations; 4. Access of minors to online pornography is a form of sexual abuse and must be efficiently prevented; 5. Parents need to be supported, informed and recognised in their role and responsibility as primary educators and protectors of their children.
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Response to Green Paper on Ageing

11 Dec 2020

Europe is facing a significant, systemic and epochal change. This change has been presented mostly in negative terms as if the life expectancy increase was a problem and not an opportunity for which to be profoundly grateful. The present feedback would like to focus on the positive and crucial role that elderly people have in our communities, in order to contribute to the current discussions at the EU level on the demographic challenges and the future of Europe. The elderly play a key role in our communities - they transmit knowledge, collective memory, values and hopes for the future – and should not be reduced to only objects of care. We would like to offer few elements on key issues related to ageing: - Loneliness as an unprecedented crisis for older persons; - Discriminations in the access to health care during the pandemic; - Overlooked phenomenons such as the issue of elderly abuse. In addition, we propose several solutions to ensure a sustainable future for Europe: - Acknowledge and tackle the intergenerational unbalance in the context of the demographic challenges; - Promote family-friendly policies and the intergenerational solidarity; - Enhance the invest in healthcare systems, with a special focus on the needs of the elderly and their dignity; - Fight old age poverty by offering decent housing and better pension systems; - Encourage active aging and the contribution of the elderly to social communities.
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Meeting with Astrid Dentler (Cabinet of Vice-President Dubravka Šuica) and Secretariat of COMECE (Commission of the Episcopates of the European Union)

7 Sept 2020 · Green Paper on Ageing

Response to EU Action Plan of Gender equality and women’s empowerment in external relations for 2021-2025

31 Mar 2020

> The importance of unpaid and domestic work: "Every day individuals spend time cooking, cleaning and caring for children, the ill and the elderly” (OECD Development Centre, 2014), yet this domestic work is often overlooked by European institutions and studies. They usually only focus on the negative observation of a higher investment of women and mothers in domestic work, and forget the general positive investment of parents to care for their children, which represents a significant investment in terms of time, finance and energy. The European Commission, before questioning the unequal share of domestic tasks among parents, should first recognize the priceless value of unformal work made by parents as a beneficial element for the whole society. Secondly, it has to be recalled that the domestic work of women is not always a discrimination but can be as well the result of a free choice related to a division of tasks within the couple. Public policies should always respect freedom of choice when it comes to work-life balance, without trying to impose a unique system where both parents are working full-time and need to invest into childcare facilities. Work-life balance remains as diverse as situations are (full-time employment, part-time, stay-at-home parent, etc.), and parents should be simply put in the best condition to make their choice freely. > The right of parents as primary educators: Parents, mothers and fathers, play a crucial and primary role for the education of their children, Education is first a parent’s responsibility, as recalled by the Article 18 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child: “Parents or, as the case may be, legal guardians, have the primary responsibility for the upbringing and development of the child.” Parents have the primary right to educate their child according to their religious and moral beliefs, including dimensions of human love and related matters concerning the nature of sexuality, marriage and the family. The European Union should always respect this universally recognized human right before trying to impose a certain vision of children’s education. > The promotion of sexual and reproductive health: Regarding the promotion of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) by the European Union, it should be recalled that: Family planning does not include the promotion of abortion, according to paragraph 8.25 of the Program of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development Cairo (5-13 September 1994): “8.25 In no case should abortion be promoted as a method of family planning. All Governments and relevant intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations are urged to strengthen their commitment to women’s health, to deal with the health impact of unsafe abortion as a major public health concern and to reduce the recourse to abortion through expanded and improved family-planning services. Prevention of unwanted pregnancies must always be given the highest priority and every attempt should be made to eliminate the need for abortion”. SRH rather focuses on the “prevention of abortion and the management of the consequences of abortion” (Paragraph 7.6 of the Cairo Conference Program of Action). Reproductive health is a particularly broad reality, which cannot be reduced to contraception alone. While contraception is part of “family planning services”, it only occupies a secondary position. Indeed, family planning is primarily aimed, as its name implies, at building a family, and not at preventing one. SRH include as well “education and services for prenatal care, safe delivery and post-natal care, especially breastfeeding and infant and women’s health care; prevention and appropriate treatment of infertility” (Paragraph 7.2. of the Cairo Conference Program of Action). These elements are often overlooked when dealing with SRH, yet central to ensure women’s health and well-being.
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Meeting with Marco Piantini (Cabinet of Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni)

25 Feb 2020 · Demography trends and its impacts on economy