The Presidency Conference is co-financed by the European Commisssion through grant VS/2010/0821

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2 The Hungarian Presidency Conference on Demographic Change Budapest, March 2011 Hungarian Academy of Sciences The Impact of Work and Family Reconciliation on Demographic Dynamics The Hungarian Presidency has identified demographic issues as one of the major challenges in the European Union today. Hungary believes that special attention has to be devoted to demographic trends and to families in particular. Policies favouring families and work-life balance are high on the agenda of the Hungarian Presidency. In order to address remaining challenges and identifying best practices that might create awareness and enhance co-operation amongst Member States in these fields, the Hungarian Presidency is organising a thematic week from 28 March until 2 April 2011 entitled Europe for Families, Families for Europe Population Issues and Policies Awareness Week. The opening event of the week is the The Hungarian Presidency Conference on Demographic Change: The Impact of Reconciliation of Work and Family Life on Demographic Dynamics on 28 and 29 March. After the plenary speeches of the first day panel discussions will follow on 29 March. The participants of the conference are representatives of EU Member States, European Institutions, NGOs and individual experts.

3 Introductory remarks Population ageing and decline is one of the major challenges the EU has to face in the coming decades. Seven Member States (including Hungary) are already confronted with population decline at the national level and 18 out of 27 Member States experience shrinking in one or more of their regions. This challenge is acute and addresses many different EU priorities and policy fields The Hungarian Presidency would like to stress the importance of a broad approach to demographic change one that allows for different points of view. Population decline, ageing and migration are societal developments that cannot be addressed separately. Demographic change entails more than just ageing and migration. For this reason the Hungarian Presidency would like to focus in particular on the role of family policy and its possible contribution in overcoming the prevailing demographic crisis. Family support in the form of appropriate child care, flexible working arrangements, cash and tax benefits for families with children etc. is known to facilitate the reconciliation of work and family life, helps parents to care better for their children (also perhaps enabling them actually to as many children as they wish), and improves employment opportunities for women, indeed for parents. In this way family policies are likely to contribute to both economic growth and social well being. One way to face the demographic challenge is to raise public awareness and to encourage people to put their own future ageing into a life course perspective. And while respecting that family affairs and ageing policy fall under the competence of Member States it is desirable to enhance EU action and cooperation that can lead to policy solutions at the national level. It is for this reason that the Hungarian Presidency wants to draw attention to past and future trends in fertility and family formation. The intention is to move support for families interlocked with demographic issues higher up on the EU policy agenda by organizing a thematic week in Budapest. Europe for Families, Families for Europe Population Issues and Policies Awareness Week (28/03/ /04/2011). The main aim is to create an opportunity for an exchange of views and to highlight the urgent need for a horizontal approach to policy-making around all aspects of the family. Interpretation will be provided in to and from English, French and Hungarian.

4 28 March 2011 DRAFT PROGRAMME 11:00-11:10 József Pálinkás President of Hungarian Academy of Sciences 11:10-11:30 Pál Schmitt, President of Hungary SECTION I Trio Presidency on work and family reconciliation and demographic issues 11:30-11:50 Miklós Soltész Minister of State for Social, Family and Youth Affairs, Hungary 11:50-12:10 Melchior Wathelet, State Secretary for the Budget, Migration and Asylum Policy, Family Policy and Federal Cultural Institutions, Belgium 12:10-12:30 Isabel María Martínez Lozano General Secretary for Social Policy and Consumer Affairs, Spain video message 12:30-14:O0 Buffet Lunch SECTION II - International point of view on demographic change and family policy 14:00-14:20 Staffan Nilsson President of European Economic and Social Committee 14:20-14:40 Willem Adema Social Policy Division, OECD 14:40-15:00 Robert Anderson Head of the Living Conditions and Quality of Life research programme of Eurofound

5 SECTION III NGOs and experts on population issues and demographic trends 15:00-15:20 William Lay Director of Confederation of Family Organisations in the EU (COFACE) 15:20-15:40 Dr. Mária Kopp, Head of Hungarian Round Table on Demographic Issues 15:40-16:00 Dr. Zsolt Spéder Director of Demographic Research Institute, Hungary Representing FAMILYPLATFORM 16:00-16:30 Q&A 18:30-19:30 Guided Tour in the Hungarian Parliament 19:30-22:00 Dinner in the Hungarian Parliament Reception by Dr Miklós Réthelyi, Minister of National Resources, Hungary

6 29 March 2011 Two parallel panels; 9:00-11:30 Panel 1 The impact of work-family reconciliation on fertility and on fatherhood roles in Europe Chair: Dr Gyula Pulay Director General of the Research Institute of the Hungarian State Audit Office Barbara Ch. Wurster Head of Operations of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) Béatrice Ouin European Economic and Social Committee Michaela Costa Policy Officer of Confederation of Family Organisations in the European Union (COFACE) Alexandra Jachanova - Dolezelova Vice-President of European Women s Lobby (EWL) Panel 2 Best practices of European family policies and their effect on demographic dynamics Chair: Edit Bauer Member of European Parliament Eleonora Hostasch Chair of the European Commission's Expert Group on Demographic Issues Stéphane Buffetaut European Economic and Social Committee Raul Sanchez Secretary General of European Large Families Confederation (ELFAC) Antoine Renard, President of Federation of Catholic Family Organizations in Europe (FAFCE) Jana Jamborová Secretary General, New Women for Europe Dr Catherine Hakim London School of Economics Jonas Himmelstrand National Board Member, Haro the national federation of Choice, Gender and Parenthood Prof. dr. Anne H. Gauthier Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute Vibeke Bing Swedish Family Association, Representing Eurochild 11:30-12:00 Coffee break Closing remarks 12:00-12:10 Dr Anna Záborská, Chair of the Intergroup on Family, Protection of Childhood and Solidarity between the Generations, European Parliament 12:10-12:20 12:20-12:30 12:30-12:40 Tamás Szűcs Head of European Commission Representation in Hungary Radoslaw Mleczko Deputy Ministerof Labour and Social Policy, Poland Dr Miklós Réthelyi, Minister of National Resources, Hungary