“This resolution has to be seen in the context of the Conference on the future of Europe: as Pope Francis recalled: ‘If families are not at the centre of the present, there will be no future; but if families start again, everything will start again’”. This is according to the President of FAFCE (Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe) Vincenzo Bassi (pictured) who, in an interview with SIR news agency, outlined a document containing suggestions to be submitted to the Conference that was launched on 9 May in Strasbourg. By putting citizens at the centre, the Conference will have to propose reforms to relaunch the EU. The document is entitled “The Family is the Democratic and Demographic Future of Europe”. “We cannot speak of democratic principles or the future of Europe in realistic and concrete terms without starting from the reality of the family as an example of generation”, Mr Bassi stressed. “We can only understand the concept of generation by looking at the daily experience of our families and associations, in their generous contribution to the common good. We – as family associations across Europe – are here to take on our responsibilities and put ourselves at the service of community”. According to FAFCE, Europe “faces new challenges that require solidarity. Intergenerational solidarity and solidarity between families are the first examples from which political stakeholders can learn”. FAFCE, therefore, calls on the “EU and national stakeholders to recognise the role of families and to invest in them” so that they can be “engines of participatory democracy and guarantors of pluralism”.