In order to address Child Poverty and to bring the importance of investing in children back on the agenda, 11 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have launched an initiative to collect signatures for a European Parliament Written Declaration on investing in children (number 0042/2015). The written declaration calls upon the European Commission to introduce specific indicators on children at risk of poverty; it also urges EU Member States to use EU funding to implement the Commission Recommendation ‘Investing in Children: Breaking the cycle of disadvantage’. You can read the full written declaration here.
Eurodiaconia as part of the EU Alliance for Investing in Children Network, bringing together 23 European networks sharing a commitment to end child poverty and to promote child well-being across Europe, supports these efforts to make a sufficient number of MEPs sign the declaration. Only if at least 377 members of parliament sign the declaration by the 7th of December, it will be forwarded to the European Commission and the Council.
And that is where Eurodiaconia member’s engagement is asked for: In order to collect the necessary amount of signatures, Eurodiaconia members can contact their local MEPs to ask them to sign the Written Declaration. To find out who your MEP is, please click here.
We also prepared a template letter which you can use to write and encourage your MEP. In case of questions about the declaration, procedure or MEP of your region, please feel free to contact our intern Lea Schumacher.