Tag: Child poverty

08.09.2011: The reduced VAT rate in Europe – Opportunities for Effective Support for Families

Results of the expert meeting on 08 September 2011Venue: European Commission Representation in Germany The German Association of Family Organisations (AGF) and the European Confederation of Family Organisations in the European Union (COFACE) invited to an expert discussion concerning the future of the reduced rate of VAT on products and services for children. The discussion was mainly directed at representatives […]

08.09.2011: Joint event of AGF and COFACE on VAT

The AGF hosted the regular meeting of the COFACE Working Group Consumer Protection, Services and Public Health Policies in Berlin. The two-day event started with a European Expert Discussion on the issue of reduced VAT for children’s products. Attendants were, among others, representatives of the EU Commission, the European Parliament and the German Bundestag. The two-day event took place on […]

Germany’s targets on the fight against poverty are set too low

[27. 4. 2011] The Association of German Family Organisations (AGF) e.V. criticizes the German National Reform Programme for setting insufficient targets and demands adequate and serious measures against poverty and social exclusion from the Federal Government. The National Reform Programme (NRP 2011), which the federal cabinet adopted on the 6th of April, names the national contribution to the new EU […]

AGF Comment on the European Platform against Poverty and Social Exclusion

[5. 4. 2011] The AGF appreciates the first concrete objective of the European Union to reduce the poverty figures in the EU. It considers the political announcements of the German Federal Government, nevertheless, to be insufficient and demands adequate measures against poverty and social exclusion. The AGF appreciates that the European Union has clearly committed itself to poverty reduction. We […]

Recipients of parental allowance threatened by the loss of residual claims

[26.11.2010] All parents, who provide for parental allowance to be disbursed over a period of 24 months, instead of 12 months, forfeit their right to a residual claim. See further information in AGF press release. The Federal Government’s savings package will treat the parental allowance for recipients of SGB II benefits, as personal income.  In practice, from 2011 all parents, […]

19.10.2010: Alliance expert discussion for reduced VAT

More than 20 organizations and corporations met to have an intensive debate concerning reduced value added tax (VAT) on children’s products. All those present were in full agreement that this would be not only of great symbolic meaning for families but also an important relief of the financial strain. The AGF invited to the meeting, as not only does the […]

01.09.2010: Background discussion of AGF and European Commission

The AGF and the European Commission jointly organised a background discussion on child poverty. Representatives of NGO, of the European Commission as well as members of the European and the German Parliament were discussing in Brussels. On the day exactly a year after the successful conference on child poverty in Europe, the participants discussed central issues for the removal and […]

Family Organisations: crisis must be occasion for long-term concepts

[04.06.2010] The current savings suggestions and cut backs, meet with a lack of comprehension from those family organisations united in the AGF. They are pleading, instead, for a future oriented policy which puts the interests of the next generations in the foreground. “Now, above all, where the sense of future investments is evident the discussion is running with backward direction […]