EUFASA – What is it?
EUFASA stands for European Union Foreign Affairs Spouses, Partners and Families Association. Back in the day, an (unintentionally anonymous) diplomat wife came up with the idea of bringing together the representatives of the European Community National Diplomatic Spouses Associations.
From the first meeting organised by the Italian association in Rome in 1985 to this day, the member associations gather in an annual symposium hosted in the European capital of the country in Presidency of the European Community, of what has now become the European Union. Today the organisation counts 22 members across Europe, among which our own spouse association ALCAT.
The purpose of EUFASA is to raise awareness and advocate for the specific questions and problematics that accompanying families of the Foreign Affairs Officer are experiencing on posting and back home. The challenges spouses face individually, as a couple, a family as well as a community need be heard and supported by the Foreign Affairs Ministries (MFA). EUFASA addresses spouses and family concerns and formulates recommendations to the MFA in order to promote of a closer dialog and cooperation.
These recommendations are based on thorough scientific research and consultations of member associations, institutions as well as local and international partners in all areas of life (i.e. public institutions, insurance, social, medical and legal services). Altogether, EUFASA aims at improving the conditions in which spouses and families move and live abroad and of course, when they return back to base.
Our lives have been subjected to decisive changes in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The world has evolved and its values and imperatives have considerably shifted, with direct and palatable consequences impacting the tagging partner and family more heavily than before. Partners are no longer systematically married, or heterosexual, or willing to abandon a promising career for an alleged carefree, privileged life. What used to be a social elevator is now seriously questionable and questioned. There is a wide discrepancy between the sedentary and the expat spouses and families, which is contributing to the recruitment crisis in the MFAs across Europe : there are more advantages in staying at home than being sent abroad, on all levels including plain financial aspects such as getting a mortgage, finding a bank abroad, sorting a cross-border tax return, just to mention a few.
ALCAT has been a member of EUFASA since its beginnings in 1995. Since then our small community of spouses and partners has grown and achieved some progress, especially in the past 15 years. It has played a role in the revaluation of indemnities abroad, and is keeping close attention to the current Reform of the MFA Financial Status. We form a community of a new kind of partners. New questions arise with the increasing number of female MFA agents, divorced partners and the rights to visit their children in countries outside EU, or caring for elderly parents from a distance.
EUFASA workgroups conduct survey campaigns in areas such as employability and social rights, children and education, health and mental health, security abroad, as well as the communities of foreign-born, unmarried and LGBTQ spouses. The ALCAT contribution is also an incentive to extract information in Luxembourg and share it among our members within our network of information and support. The backing of an international organisation such as EUFASA gives more weight to our mission when dealing with the
MFA.
It is now commonly admitted that the happier the family, the better the MFA officer feels and works. As the supporting people we do our best and we also need support as well as recognition for our efforts and concessions. Belonging to a European network such as EUFASA definitely gives ALCAT members an access to a European community of diplomatic spouses and families. It also grants credibility and assertiveness in our ambitions to acquire a proper, individual social status, for ourselves and the generations to come.
For more information on EUFASA, click here.