In the European Commission's work programme for 2015, the "notable absentee" is the human. The Federation of Catholic Families in Europe (FAFCE) points this out in a statement published after the presentation of the proposals in Brussels for next year.
"The European Commission will also make proposals to complete the EU Accession to the European Convention of Human Rights ", writes the FAFCE, "but we are unsure whether or not this will help create a real area of Justice and fundamental Rights based on mutual trust, as wished by the Commission itself. Citizens must be involved in this process and need to be informed of the concrete impacts and juridical consequences that this accession could have."
The Federation complains that the Junker Commission "does not listen to more than 100 organisations representing several million citizens in EU Member States, who asked to withdraw the proposal for a fifth Equal Treatment Directive. Originally intended to remedy specific discrimination against disabled people, it has since become an instrument to advance many other wide-ranging political objectives."
"We noticed the proposal for a withdrawal of the Proposal for a new Maternal Leave Directive," the Federation writes, explaining that it would welcome "a proposal which focuses on supporting real family life and work balance as a way to not oblige women and mothers to choose between founding a family and their job."
