Leo van Doesburg

The first conference of family policy in Montenegro was held on Thursday, November 7th 2012 in Podgorica, Montenegro, organized by the Christian Movement of Montenegro (CMoM), in cooperation with the European Christian Political Movement. The conference brought together over 40 people from political and public life, directors of the municipal centres for social work, sociologists, psychologists, lawyers and publicists. Notable personalities who participated include the Secretary General of the President's cabinet, Mr. Drazen Miličković and head of the office of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in Podgorica, Mrs. Sanja Sljivancanin. It should be particularly noted that the delegation of ECPM and CMoM, represented by Leo van Doesburg, Eunice Vatran and Lav Lajovic, was hosted by the President of Montenegro, Mr. Filip Vujanovic, who gave his enthusiastic support for the projects organized by ECPM and CMoM in the area of family policy and expressed willingness to assist our fut...

Dr. Tonio Borg, currently Malta’s Foreign Minister, is his country’s nominee for the European Commission’s Health and Consumer Policy portfolio, a post recently vacated by John Dalli. With academic qualifications in administrative and human rights law, and decades of experience in his country’s Justice and Home Affairs Ministries, Dr. Borg is an ideal nominee. Dr. Borg is also a catholic Christian and, because of this, a coordinated campaign opposing his nomination is in full force. On 13 November, a three hours hearing of the Commissioner-designate will take place at the European Parliament (which has a quasi veto on the confirmations of new Commissioners). Under normal circumstances, there would be no reason for Parliament to doubt the nominee’s suitability for the post. But for weeks, a coalition of special interest groups and NGOs has been mounting an aggressive negative campaign against Dr. Borg.   (Source  European Dignity Watch ) ...

On November 2nd I was invited to participate in the Latvian National Prayer Breakfast. This year's topic was “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God”. It was an impressive and powerful event, in which politicians and Members of Parliament shared their thoughts about the importance of peace and reconciliation.  Following the Prayer Breakfast, an international discussion was organized on “Peace as a virtue and the process of forming peace in contemporary society”. Speakers included: Inese Libina-Egner, Deputy of the Saeima and Legal advisor to the President, Ilmars Latkovskis and Inga Bite, both Deputies of the Saeima, Pavil Brvers, Bishop of Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia, Miervaldis Krotovs: Chairman of Talsi Regional Municipality, Inga Berzina, Chairman of Kuldiga City Council and Joseph Dustin, founder of organization “Streams of Life” in Latvia and Lithuania. The discussion was moderated by Inese Libina, Deputy of the Saeima. I felt privi...

Family Policy Conference of European Christian Political Foundation & Solidarna Polska (Program at ECPF website ) European examples and policy options for support for families as investment in Europe’s future. The ECPF and Solidarna Polska warmly invite you to participate in their joint family policy conference. The focus of this conference is on how government policies can support families. The conference offers the opportunity to hear from experts on what the European trends are and which practical policies would be supportive for families. The experts will focus on various fields like the pressure on the family, child benefits systems and the balance between work and family life.