9th Meeting Group of Commissioners (child rights coordinator etc)

Communication on the rights of the child

(Item for adoption)

- President Barroso welcomed the fact that this important initiative had returned to the

Group’s agenda for a final political steer, before being addressed as a common initiative

to the Commission for adoption on 4 July. He thanked VP Frattini, all the Members of

the Group and their respective departments for their contribution. He drew attention to

the main point at stake, the creation of a coordinator for the rights of the child and

welcomed its future role within the Commission providing follow-up to the

Communication.

- VP Frattini thanked the President and all the Commissioners and departments concerned

for their contribution to the preparatory work. He stressed the administrative rather than

political nature of the future coordinator for the rights of the child and explained the

importance of presenting the annex to the Communication.

- Mr Špidla stressed the importance of the proposal and highlighted a number of key

domains where further action needs to be developed, such as the fight against child

labour, gender equality, protection of young workers and the fight against child poverty.

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- Mr Figel’ supported the proposal and expressed his thanks for the broad consultation led

by DG JLS. He welcomed its horizontal dimension and internal-external approach,

stressing the importance of guaranteeing a culture of human rights, which starts with the

protection of children. Finally, he underlined two particular rights of children: the right to

education and the right to have relations with both parents.

- Mr Child, on behalf of Ms Ferrero-Waldner, expressed strong support for the proposal

and welcomed the administrative nature of the future coordinator. He noted DG

RELEX’s interest in playing an active role in the follow-up to the Communication,

particularly as regards the formal inter-service group on the rights of the child, for which

he noted some details still needed to be settled.

- Mr Rehn thanked VP Frattini for the proposal and highlighted the inter-service

preparatory work, which had helped to strike a good internal-external balance. He agreed

on the importance of improving the Commission’s internal coordination. Thus, he

supported the creation of the coordinator and suggested inviting him/her to the Group’s

meetings. He emphasised progress with EU accession as a powerful tool for promoting

children’s rights and recalled the importance of EU financial assistance.

- VP Wallström thanked VP Frattini and in particular the President for their commitment

to the proposal. She welcomed the creation of an internal coordinator, who would be the

Commission contact point for children’s matters. She referred to the communication

aspects of the proposal and suggested, in particular, preparing a child-friendly version of

the Communication and creating a symbolic Children’s Meeting Place by planting a tree,

following the experience projects run by the NGO “GlobalTree”.

Conclusions:

? President Barroso underlined his interest in and commitment to the rights of the

child, which is a very sensitive human and political issue. He welcomed the

initiative and noted the value added of action at European level, which would add to

what is done at national level and show that the EU supports the protection of

children. To this end, he stressed the importance of giving high visibility to the

proposal.

? The Group expressed its full support for the proposal after giving it a final political

steer, and agreed to address it directly, as a common initiative of the Group, to the

Commission for adoption, as allowed by the Commission’s Rules of Procedure.

? The Group welcomed the creation of a coordinator for the rights of the child, who

would have an administrative role designed to provide follow-up and help

implement the proposal. RELEX services would be fully associated in this respect.

From a communication point of view, the concrete suggestions made by VP

Wallström were welcomed and should be closely scrutinised.