ECR ‘family’ congress set to unite right-wing parties

Addressing issues related to family and demography will be at the centre of the upcoming European Congress on family organised by the ECR party in Dubrovnik from the 18th until the 20th of October.  

In a briefing held in Rome on Wednesday the party’s Secretary General Antonio Giordano alongside representatives of Brothers of Italy explained the focus of the event and why these topics are central to the conservatives’ political agenda.  

“When it comes to our values conservatives have a very clear vision. We are open to discussions on rights, but family is always at the centre”, Giordano told Euronews.

“Then you have the economic challenges that families face and these will be debated by economists. But we’ll be also discussing technological challenges. Let’s not forget that one of the crisis families face is the lack of dialogue often replaced by the use of social media”. 

Giordano said that a total of 300 delegates from around the world will attend the event, among them there will be representatives from various right-wing forces.

As explained by Giordano, the ECR’s party mission is to strengthen ties among conservatives around shared values, acting as a mediator among different parties. 

“When the discussion is about families, everyone comes together” noted Giordano. “We’ll have members from the EPP, members from Patriots for Europe with the majority from the ECR.”

“In general the ECR mission is to be at the centre of dialogue, a place where conversations can take place with both the right and the left. I hope that in the future we can move even more leftward.”

Family and the fight against the demographic crisis gripping Europe have long been central to the ECR and FDI’s political agenda.

PM Giorgia Meloni and her government joined a conference in the Italian capital, which was also attended by Pope Francis, discussing ways to boost Italy’s birth rate. 

Ylenja Lucaselli, a member of Brothers of Italy who also attended the conference highlighted the importance of addressing the issue to boost the country’s economy.

“Figures in Italy are not encouraging” Lucaselli told Euronews.

”The issue must remain central in the government’s agenda and this is something the Meloni’s government is already doing through a series of financial allocations” adding that policies to sustain families amount to over 16 billion euros”.