Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-04-11-Speech-4-038"
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"en.20020411.3.4-038"2
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"Mr President, on 18 March, the Commission adopted a communication as its contribution to the Second World Assembly on Ageing, which is being organised by the United Nations and hosted by the Spanish Government in Madrid from 8 to 12 April 2002. The Commission's communication is entitled, 'Europe's response to World Ageing – promoting economic and social progress in an ageing world'.
On Monday, my colleague, Anna Diamantopoulou, gave a presentation to the World Assembly in Madrid on recent developments in the European Union's position on the problem of ageing.
This communication addresses the phenomenon of ageing in Europe against the background of worldwide ageing. First of all, Europe's population is one of the oldest in the world, and European countries will continue to be prominent in the league of ageing nations for several more decades yet.
Ageing is, however, no longer essentially a problem peculiar to developing countries. Today it is also – and increasingly – becoming a concern of developing countries. In a number of these countries, ageing will be a much more rapid process and will take place against a background of a level of development which is markedly lower than in Western Europe. Ageing is therefore a problem which, in the Twenty-First century, will require not a European response but a global response.
The approach adopted by the Commission is based on three points:
Firstly, the population is ageing rapidly. Enlargement will not affect this situation at all, and neither will immigration, although it may have a slight influence on this process. Nevertheless, demography is not a destiny. The political responses to ageing will determine the impact that it has on European societies.
Secondly, ageing is the result of a combination of several social processes and should be considered as a trend which interacts with other phenomena. The response must therefore constitute an integral part of the global strategy, which is made up of mutually supportive policies.
Thirdly, although the living conditions and possibilities open to the elderly are an important concern at any time, if we are to adapt successfully to ageing, people of all ages will be affected. A life-long approach can therefore make it easier to put in place adequate political measures.
The main part of the communication describes the way in which we need to act at European level. The Commission has identified ageing as one of the six common challenges of sustainable development, and the Member States have taken decisive measures to step up cooperation on ageing problems. The Member States have committed themselves to coordinating their work and we are starting to see a similar tendency for health care.
We have identified the main challenges together. They are: anticipating an increase in expenditure while guaranteeing sound public finances; adjusting to an ageing and shrinking workforce; guaranteeing adequate, sustainable and adaptable pensions and guaranteeing ageing Europeans access to high-quality health care for long periods of time. Over and above the experience which the European Union has acquired in considering its response to ageing, the communication also takes account of the problems faced by candidate countries and developing countries at a global level. Taken as a whole, the communication is a contribution by the Commission to the debate on the new International Plan of Action on Ageing, which is to be adopted. It is therefore intended to support Member States' efforts to establish a uniform Union position on this problem."@en1
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