Eurochild celebrates a year of joint action as Vice-President Kopacz publishes her 2025 annual report

Vice-President Ewa Kopacz, the European Parliament's Coordinator on Children's Rights, has published her Annual Report 2025 and Work Programme 2026. At Eurochild, we are proud to mark this milestone and reflect on a year of meaningful collaboration.

• Championing Children at a Time When It Matters Most

A paediatrician by background, Vice-President Kopacz brings both professional expertise and genuine personal commitment to her role as the European Parliament Coordinator on Children’s Rights. In a year marked by shrinking civic space, funding cuts to civil society, growing anti-rights movements, and children suffering in conflict zones, her leadership has been particularly important. The 2025 report, presented to the Committee on Legal Affairs on 24 March 2026, reflects this urgency with an impressively comprehensive agenda: children's mental and physical health, online safety, alternative care, family mediation, and the urgent situation of Ukrainian children illegally deported by Russia. Taken together, the breadth of the work reflects the complexity of the challenges children across Europe continue to face.

Looking ahead, the 2026 Work Programme keeps children's physical and mental health and online safety as its central priorities, while also pursuing broader goals such as introducing children's rights impact assessments into EU policymaking and advancing the possibility of EU accession to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

• Joining Forces for and with Children

We are proud to share that Eurochild and our members played a meaningful role in Vice-President Kopacz’s work across several key moments.

In January 2025, then Eurochild President Her Excellency Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca met Vice-President Kopacz to discuss our 2024 flagship report Children’s realities in Europe: Progress & Gaps.  Her Excellency highlighted the urgency of strengthening child protection frameworks. Key topics included healthcare for children, mental health and children’s rights in the digital environment.

In June 2025, Ally Dunhill, Director of Policy, Advocacy and Communications at Eurochild, presented two Eurochild reports, our 2024 Flagship Report and our 'How Children Feel' report at the High-Level Conference on Supporting Children's Mental Health: the Role of Schools and Teachers. The conference was co-organised by Vice-President Kopacz and held under the patronage of the Polish Council Presidency.

In November 2025, Vice-President Kopacz hosted members of the Eurochild Children's Council at the European Parliament, where the children presented their child-friendly version of the European Commission's Guidelines on Mental Health and Wellbeing at School. Developed together with the Learning for Well-being Foundation, the project translated complex policy recommendations into language meaningful to children themselves. The event was followed by a joint video message with the Vice-President on the Parliament's social media channels to mark World Children's Day.

• What Comes Next

Eurochild looks forward to continuing collaborating with Vice-President Kopacz and her Office on a wide range of children’s rights, including child poverty, mental health and participation. We also extend our appreciation to all the Members of the European Parliament, Commission officials and civil society partners who supported this work throughout 2025. Together, we are building a Europe that places children at its heart.

A promising step in that direction has already been taken: on 5 February 2026, a first-of-its-kind roundtable co-organised by Eurochild, the European Network of Ombudspersons for Children (ENOC) and Vice-President Kopacz was held at the European Parliament: "Joining Forces: Strengthening Cooperation for Children's Rights in Europe". Ombudspersons, EU institutions and civil society gathered to tackle child poverty, children's health and rising anti-rights movements, with Eurochild members offering powerful testimony on intimidation and shrinking civic space. We look forward to building on this momentum in the year ahead.

Overview of events organised or co-organised by Vice-President Ewa Kopacz, EP Coordinator on Children's Rights, in 2025

• Seminar: Empowering Children and Young People to Tackle Cyberbullying, 4 March 2025, European Parliament’s InfoHub. Co-organised with MEP Veronika Cifrová Ostrihoňová and the Alliance for Childhood European Network Group.
• EMPL/JURI Joint Public Hearing: Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Children in Alternative Care, 18 March 2025. Following the EP Coordinators request, this joint hearing was organised by the Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) and the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL).
• Exchange of Views on the Situation of Young Carers in Europe, 18 March 2025. Organised within the EMPL Committee meeting.
• High-Level Conference: Supporting Children's Mental Health - the Role of Schools and Teachers, 4 June 2025, European Parliament. Co-organised with MEP Adam Jarubas, MEP Bogdan Zdrojewski and the Czepczyński Family Foundation, under the patronage of the Polish Council Presidency.
• Meeting with Eurochild Children's Council on Mental Health and Wellbeing at School, 19 November 2025, European Parliament’s InfoHub. Co-organised with Eurochild and the Learning for Well-being Foundation.
• JURI Workshop: 45th Anniversary of the 1980 Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, 3 December 2025. Co-organised with the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Policy Department for Justice, Civil Liberties and Institutional Affairs.