On Friday 21 October, the 11th European
Congress of Large Families took place in
Prague at the Faculty of Theology of Charles
University. The following day ELFAC held its
General Assembly, where the Board of Directors
of the organisation was renewed.
The congress was held under the title “The future
depends on families: Social cohesion, Sustainability
and Democracy in the 21st century” and was opened
by representatives of the Czech Ministry of Labour and
Social Affairs, the Prague City Council, the YMCA in the
Czech Republic, and by the presidents of ELFAC and of
the ELFAC member association in the Czech Republic
and organiser of the event, Zivá Rodina.
During the congress, Luigi Campiglio, professor of economic
policy at the Universit? Cattolica del Sacro Cuore,
Milano (Italy), spoke on the role of families for the
sustainability of society; and Otakar Hampl, economist
in the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, addressed
a very topical subject: Fiscality and pensions: the key
role of families.
Once the context of the discussion had been set, Molár
Balasz, vice-president for strategy and coordination at
the Maria Kopp Institute for demography and families in
Budapest, introduced us to the model of family policies
that Hungary has been developing for the last twelve
years, within a national strategy to make Hungary a family-
friendly country. This was followed by a wide-ranging
debate between the speakers and the audience, which
included participants from eleven different countries.
Regina Maroncelli, president of ELFAC, closed the
congress, referring to the important challenges we
face in order to have a sustainable society, something
impossible without putting the family at the centre of the
political strategies.
The following day, in the same setting of the Charles
University, the ELFAC general assembly was held.
Raúl Sanchez, secretary general, presented the report of
activities carried out since the previous assembly, where
the development of the European Network of Family-Friendly
Municipalities and the interventions of ELFAC in
the United Nations, where it obtained the consultative
status of that organisation in July 2021, stand out.
During the assembly, the renewal of the Board of Directors
also took place. Due to the impact of the pandemic,
it was decided to extend the term of the current members
by two more years, with two new members joining the
Board: Kinga Joo from Hungary and Ivan Malbasic from
Croatia.
Jiří Ludvík, YMCA Živá rodina, foto: archiv autora textu