The Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe (FAFCE) has issued a plea asking for public support after the European Commission excluded all six of its recent project applications from EU funding.
FAFCE says the decisions amount to ideological discrimination against an organization whose core mission is the promotion and protection of the family. The Catholic organization suspects its exclusion from EU funding is part of a broader attack on traditional families.
The Commission’s assessment of the six FAFCE projects determined that the projects lacked gender diversity and “contravene EU equality provisions.” According to the organization, their score was penalized by 30% for not including enough gender diverse ideas and “safeguards against discrimination.”
The president of FAFCE denounced the decision as “an ideological discrimination to civil society organizations like FAFCE that has consistently promoted dialogue and upheld the dignity of each person.” The president noted that proposals were penalized despite presenting families “as an instrument of social inclusion and of protection,” including one project devoted entirely to digital education for minors.
Founded in 1997, FAFCE is the only family-focused NGO at the EU level that includes the term “Catholic” in its official name, representing 33 member associations in 21 countries. Its advocacy spans demographic challenges, work–family balance, child protection, the harms of pornography, and issues related to life and human dignity.
The exclusion of FAFCE has prompted broader political reactions. Hungarian MEP Kinga Gál, Vice President of the Patriots for Europe group, also condemned the Commission’s decision, calling it “the highest form of discrimination on the basis of gender ideology.” She argued that the move targets FAFCE “simply because the organization stands up for the family as the most important unit of society. In Brussels, this is now considered a crime.”
“The family is the fundamental building block of our societies and communities. Without strong families, there can be no strong nation. […] We cannot allow Brussels to take this value away from us,” Gál added.
Hungarian Ministerial Commissioner Bernadett Petri also commented on social media, saying that the decision “has once again revealed how far Brussels has drifted from the values on which Europe was built.” She argued that “the European Union and its predecessors were not created on the basis of radical left-wing woke ideology,” noting that “Europe’s history, culture, legal system, and view of humanity are based on Christian foundations. The FAFCE’s ‘crime’ is nothing more than openly embracing this heritage and standing up for the Christian concept of the family.”
Petri insisted: “We do not accept that Brussels should punish Christian beliefs on ideological grounds. The future of Europe lies not in rejecting traditional Christian values, but in preserving them!” She added that the Hungarian government seeks to ensure EU funds are distributed according to this understanding of European values.
The federation warns that it urgently needs 150,000 euros to continue its ongoing projects. Without this support, it says it will be forced in 2026 to dismiss employees and reduce its presence in EU-level debates.
