Photo by Isaac Quesada on Unsplash
The EU Commission has been urged to present a new strategy for older persons before the end of its current mandate
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) called on the European Commission and the Member States to develop a new European Strategy for Older Persons in a plenary debate with Commission Vice President Dubravka Šuica.
Such a plan would move away from the current perception of older people as a burden and cost to society, it was said.
Instead, the strategy would tap into their social, economic and intellectual potential, which is often neglected.
The debate heard that in the absence of a comprehensive policy on older persons and ageing, this would be the first EU strategy to protect the rights of older people and ensure their full participation in society and the economy.
The strategy would also help eradicate ageist views that add to discrimination against older people, which, together with gender discrimination, continues to top the list of the most common forms of discrimination in the EU.
This, it was said, is despite the fact that Europe is rapidly ageing. Eurostat estimates that by 2050, the number of people in the EU aged 75-84 will grow by 56.1%, while the number of people aged 65-74 will increase by 16.6%.
The EESC’s calls for a new strategy were presented in the opinion adopted at its July plenary session, which hosted a debate with the Commission’s Vice-President for Democracy and Demography, Dubravka Šuica, and the president of the AGE Platform Europe, Dr Heidrun Mollenkopf.
The opinion was requested by the Spanish presidency of the Council of the EU, which has put addressing demographic change high on its political agenda.
Miguel Angel Cabra de Luna, a member of the EESC Civil Society Organisations’ Group, said, “The EESC is making a clear and unequivocal call to the Commission to draw up a European Strategy for Older People before the end of the current mandate.”
“I believe this represents a starting point that will be far-reaching for European social and demographic policy”.
