When two people get married, it’s because they feel so good together that they want to undertake one of the greatest projects that exits – to start a family.
Obviously, if the State recognises the marriage it’s not because it cares about feelings, but because the renewal of generations and the raising of children guarantees the future of the nation. This explains the importance of marriage which, it’s worth remembering, is not a mere contract, but an institution.
Marriage protects the family because it is based on a commitment to live together in a spirit of mutual respect and of responsibility for the children that come from it.
Naturally, the family is essential for every individual as well as for society. It is the place where children are welcomed and brought up, where each of us has their place in the line of generations. The family connects us all together and is the place where solidarity and giving freely begin, the best social safety net and the most effective protection from solitude. The family is also the motor of the economy, for the present and for the future.
In short, the family is the building block for the whole of society.
It is for this reason that the founders of the European Union ensured that the subsidiarity principle applied to everything to do with the family, which is the exclusive responsibility of Member States.
Nevertheless, for some time now, EU texts have more and more frequently mentioned the family. In some cases, these texts go as far as defining the family – even if such definitions differ from one text to another. In addition, many Own Initiative Reports have been adopted in recent years by the European Parliament dealing with the issue of filiation, in other words the family. For example, they deal with so-called ‘reproductive rights’.
This creates problems, all the more so because the conception of marriage and the family is the subject of increasingly divergent views from one European country to another.
So in the end, as it is no longer clear what is meant, European texts are becoming impossible to interpret and apply.
The EU has therefore an urgent need for clear and precise definitions of marriage and the family. Of course, it is necessary that these definitions should contribute to European unity by being based on the common foundation of all Member States, that which reflects the universal reality of humanity – marriage between man and woman, and the bonds of father, mother, child.
MUM, DAD & KIDS therefore asks you to join in a ‘European Citizens’ Initiative’ (ECI) which, in accordance with Regulation EU211/2011, is provided so as to take into account the will of the citizens of the 28 Member States.
The first stage of the ECI is the official registering of this initiative by the European Commission. The request for registration was made on 15 October 2015 and the Commission’s response is due by 15 December 2015. The official gathering of signatures would start after that date.
Should the European Commission, for whatever reason, refuse to officially register our initiative, we will call on your support anyway.
There are surely many people who can clearly see the fact that to consciously deprive a child of a father or a mother, and likely parentage, is both unjust and an aberration. Respect for marriage between a man and a woman, and for the links that bind father, mother and child, is essential.
If we succeed to get a very high number of signatures, our appeal will force its way onto the European political agenda.
Generations of future children are counting on your support. On their behalf, thank you!
Mum Dad & Kids 