Debate: Creation of a European initiative for an annual designation of European capitals for children
Date: WEDNESDAY, 13 MARCH 2024
Speaker: Dubravka Šuica
Language: EN

I can agree that we have to give children a voice. As a preliminary draft assessment, the Commission believes that such an initiative would require analysis, preparation, building on existing initiatives and already available funding schemes, in close consultation with all relevant stakeholders. But coordination is necessary. These stakeholders would include – I will repeat – international organisations such as Unicef and key children’s rights organisations. The provisions and safeguards of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child will need to underpin this proposal, with the best interests of the child at the centre. It is also important to consult local and regional stakeholders, and especially children themselves, on their priorities and their needs, which could be broader than this specific initiative. Joining forces is key to make a change in children’s lives – together with the European Parliament, with Member States, local authorities, international and civil society organisations, practitioners, the whole society and children themselves. In this vein, I also want to thank this House for your engagement and partnership in making the European Union Strategy on the Rights of the Child and the European Child Guarantee a reality for every child. At this stage, we take good note of welcoming and underlying principles, and the importance of embedding children’s rights in local realities. We also note that this initiative seems to be at a preliminary reflection stage. To conclude, we therefore invite you to analyse this proposal in more detail, taking into account existing initiatives and mechanisms. We will evaluate your proposal. And I have to tell you, on a personal note, when I was a mayor back in 2000, I established a Children’s City Council so children could elect or select their own mayor, because we know that democracy starts at a very early stage. You might have noticed that we adopted in the European Commission the Defence of Democracy package, which was announced by President von der Leyen in this House. Today, we have to defend democracy – it’s obvious, unfortunately. So where do we start? We have to defend democracy from within. It’s not only about disinformation and something which comes from different third countries; it’s also within. We have to make our children be literate to differentiate between what is fake and what is a lie. What is true? What is this information? What is genuine information? So we have to start from a very early stage and this is what we are proposing. This is very important. We established the Children’s Participation Platform, which is now operational, so children can express their views there. So I think that this is very important. I see Ms Bischoff here remembering the future of Europe. You know that we incorporated one third of youngsters into this exercise, and youngsters for us are children from 16 to 25 years old. So we know when we talk about the future of Europe, we talk about their future. So how can you talk about them without them? And we want to have them in. I think this initiative is excellent. It’s always about resources, so let’s see how we can join forces and how we can find resources. So at this stage we take good note, but it doesn’t mean that we cannot develop this initiative in the next mandate. Thank you very much for this initiative and let’s stay in touch.