Would it be possible to create a family policy at the European level?

Résumé du document

Nowadays, families seem to be the basis of our contemporary societies. We commonly speak of the family unit as a stem cell, which would be the foundation of our social organization. But, as strange as it may seem, there is no common family policy in the European Union. At first sight, it can appear a bit strange, more specifically for a French student, to see that the European Union has a common environment policy, a common cultural policy and even a common social and employment policy, but nothing about the family. The different approaches of the family policy can be explained by the fact that the family is not defined in the same way from one state to another. The concept of "family" is above all a social construction, which is not immutable and reflects a certain way of thinking about society. Based on the work of some anthropologists, the French sociologist Bourdieu analyzed the family as "a social-made group" and as "an institutionalized fiction".

Extraits

[...] Moreover, according to the subsidiary principle, the definition and implementation of family policies are the responsibility of Member States. Indeed, the article 5,2 of the Treaty Establishing the European Community says that: areas which do not fall within its exclusive competence, the Community shall take action, in accordance with the principle of subsidiary, only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the EU member states and can therefore, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved by the Community.” As a consequence, in the enumeration of Community competences (article 3,1 of the Treaty establishing the European Communities), there is no reference to “family”. [...]

[...] The final major step in direction of a common family policy is linked to the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty. The Charter of Fundamental Rights had no legal value since then, as the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe has failed. But the Charter was annexed to the Treaty of Lisbon, so it will have the force of law effective on December It will legally engage all the EU member states with some exceptions (Poland, the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic). [...]

[...] So, there are significant differences among EU member states even if directives are implemented. Besides, it is important to highlight that most of these directives have faced the reluctance of some member states. For example, the United Kingdom was deeply opposed to the directives concerning parental leaves and the custody of children. Another example of the European influence in family law was the decision of the European Court of Justice, which allowed transsexuals to marry after their sex change operation. [...]

[...] In 1996, the European Commission adopted a directive extended this vacation to men creating a parental leave for gender equality. At last, in October 2008, the European Commission proposed to extend the minimal length of this leave to 18 weeks. Similarly, recommendations and directives have been made about the custody of children at the European scale. So it is visible that the European Union tries to implement family protection measures. Nevertheless, it is still far from a common family policy. The European Union defines the minimum family laws, but does not harmonise the different national family policies. [...]

[...] It would be wrong to affirm that nothing has been tried to create a common family policy and we will see that to some respects, the premises of such a policy seem to be emerging. The family policy issue was first evoked at the European level in 1974. The Council of Ministers referred it two times in its Social Action Programme. Firstly, they wanted to conciliate familial responsibilities and professional aspirations and secondly to improve the living conditions of migrant workers and of their families. [...]