Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-03-10-Speech-2-520"
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"en.20090310.36.2-520"2
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"Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank you for what was, in my opinion, an exceptionally important and profound debate. It is, of course, clear that both the family and childhood are going through a series of changes in the current historical period. For example, in the middle ages, childhood was not recognised as a phase and children were seen as small adults and it can be said that the concept of childhood essentially developed in the Enlightenment, the period of Jean Jacques Rousseau and his novel Emil. From this perspective, it is always necessary to take account of the fact that families depend on society and society of course depends on the family. The Barcelona criteria are definitely not a policy of the last century, they are a policy which attracts lively discussion and which will surely continue to attract discussion. Despite all this, both the current debate and the informal negotiations of labour and social affairs ministers have echoed the view that the Barcelona criteria are relevant for the current period and that it is right to continue with them. I would also like to stress that the Barcelona criteria do not involve forcing a single solution on anyone but providing a real choice, a real choice for parents because, ladies and gentlemen, the fundamental point has been made in the debate and in my opinion very clearly in the last contribution, that genuinely attentive and loving parents naturally have a great ability to distinguish how to decide at a given moment, in a given phase of family life, or in a given situation, what will be best for their children. And therefore I believe it is also good to provide choice through the Barcelona criteria.
Concerning the question of how the Commission will support the Barcelona criteria, it can be done through the structural funds. In the new perspective, it is explicitly possible for the first time. Previously, it was technically possible but the way was rather unclear and complicated, since this is an open possibility. Of course, the Commission is also following the development of the Barcelona criteria, in the same way that it can assist in imparting good practice and good approaches to facilitate solutions for individual Member States. Ladies and gentlemen, I firmly believe that the Barcelona criteria do not, in any way, conflict with children’s interests and I would like to emphasise what was been said by many people, that the Barcelona criteria represent a specific approach to the matter from a quantitative standpoint but that we must not, under any circumstances, neglect the qualitative aspect. In the same way it is clear that the main decisions must always rest with the parents of course and I have to say that personally, at the end of the day and on the basis of my own simple family experience, I have faith in parents."@en1
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