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Across the European Union, families are struggling. Over the past decade, living standards, employment, and the ability to put food on the table have become less secure. Many families worry that their future is under threat. Meanwhile in EU policymaker circles the family is increasingly seen as a problem - a place where 'outdated' behaviours and ideas are learnt and reinforced.
This new paper from MCC Brussels describes the way that the EU has abandoned any pretence of a pro-family policy. Instead of supporting families as they face the challenges of the 21st Century, the default position of EU elites is to see the family as a problem. Families are not, for EU policymakers, where people recieve support or find meaning, but where they inherit 'dangerous' attitudes and values such as tradition, loyalty or national identity.
READ THE REPORT HERE
According to the report's author, MCC Brussel's visitng research fellow Dr Ashley Frawley, the European Union does not have a family policy so much as it has an anti-family policy: an approach that fragments families into discrete individuals, who in turn become seen as tools or problems to policymakers in the quest for often-conflicting goals. From this perspective, the family is not only conceived of in fragmented terms, but also as a target for interventions designed to break ‘cycles’ of social problems such as poverty and to root out unwanted values, beliefs and behaviours. This paper gives an overview of these trends. It argues for recognising the importance of families as cohesive units and not simply as placed for social engineering.
