CDI assembly adopts Fidesz, Slovenia SDS proposal concerning EU demographic strategy

The general assembly of the Centrist Democratic International in Brussels on Friday adopted a resolution proposal, tendered jointly by Hungary’s ruling Fidesz and Slovenia’s SDS party, concerning Europe’s demographic strategy, Orban’s press office said in a statement.

According to the proposed resolution, Europe’s population is declining in a global comparison. While the current 27 members of the European Union accounted for 12 percent of the global population in 1960, that ratio has now dropped to 6 percent, and is expected to further fall, to below 4 percent by 2070.

The draft also points to the continent’s ageing population, with the ratio of people over 65 having now reached 21 percent in the total population, and the ratio of children under 15 having dropped to 15 percent.

Its shrinking and ageing population means that Europe is losing its influence, competitiveness, economic power and room for manoeuvre “in a new world order”, the document says.

Through the resolution, the CDI wants to express its concern about a serious demographic crisis, which it sees as one of the gravest of current problems facing the continent.

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According to the draft, there are a number of possible solutions to reverse the population decline, such as building family support systems, helping families expecting babies and reinforcing communities.

The CDI is “deeply convinced” that family policy is a national competency and “should stay so”.

Migration should not be used as a tool to resolve demographic challenges, the proposal said, and called on the EU to “consider demographic aspects first in all its policymaking and build mechanisms to counterbalance the impacts of migration on demographics”.