Analytics, EU – Baltic States, Legislation, Pensioners, Society

László Andor, European Commissioner responsible for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion in his speech “Active ageing – a challenge for the individual and for society” summarized the achievements reached during the European Year of Aging and solidarity among Generations. He delivered his speech at a Conference on "Ageing and Social Innovation" organised by the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, 19 November 2012. Below are some ideas visualized by the Commissioner.  

Reference: Press Release, Speech/12/839; 19/11/2012.

Active ageing as a challenge

The purpose of the European Year of Aging was to contribute to the well-being of both older and younger people, as well as to economic recovery.

Aging has a definite demographic background. Presently, Europe is at a demographic turning-point” as the baby-boom generation retires, the number of people aged 60 or older is rising in Europe by about two million a year — roughly twice as fast as before. Meanwhile, the number of younger people entering the labour market is falling; therefore, the working-age population will soon be declining fast.

An older population presents various challenges: to the job market, to European health systems and to living standards after retirement.

Many fear that providing pensions, healthcare and social services for the growing older population will become too heavy a burden on a dwindling younger population, argued the Commissioner. Some even foresee an out-and-out confrontation between the generations, with older people defending their social benefits to the detriment of younger people’s needs and interests.

The Commissioner sees no incompatibility between the interests of younger and older people: the latter depend on younger people for social protection and social services, so it is in their interest to invest in the future of young people. The former care about their elders and want to be treated with respect and dignity when they grow old too.

So the idea is to avoid a confrontation between generations and develop a positive approach to tackling the challenge of ageing: an approach that focuses on creating better opportunities for people of all ages to lead active and fulfilling lives.

The Commission’s answer is “active ageing”, which means ensuring that, as people grow older, they can continue to contribute to the economy and society, and look after themselves for as long as possible.

The meaning of “active aging”

Active ageing, according to the EU Commissioner means that neither governments nor the people have to be afraid of aging in the future societies. This “lack of fear” for the future is the task of all national policies towards “society ages”, provided that the EU governments:

• preserve high health quality treatment;
• create more opportunities for older workers on the labour market; and that they remain active members of the community.

The European Year’s key message was creating an environment that is rich in opportunities, where growing old does not necessarily mean to become dependent on others.

The European Year: outcomes

The European Year was aimed at promoting active ageing in three areas: employment, participation in society, and living independently. In practice it means fostering an active-ageing culture that includes older people, rather than excluding them, i.e. a culture that develops their potential rather than focusing on their weaknesses, that empowers instead of patronising them.

The European Year has been seeking to change attitudes to ageing, and to challenge the understanding of what it means "to be old" and "to grow old".

The Year has shown how individuals and society can address the challenges related to ageing.

Among examples of activities started during this Year to overcome negative stereotypes and foster positive relations between generations the Commissioner mentioned generations@schools as an initiative that brought together older people and pupils in their schools to recount their experiences and share their understanding of what it means to be old or young. The participants learned a lot from each other and enjoyed the experience. Portugal was among the countries with the highest rates of school participation.

The Commission hopes that schools can repeat the experience next year or make arrangements for working with the older generation on a more regular basis.

On 13th November, the Commission handed out the prizes to the winners of the European Awards Scheme. The Commission was looking for activities and examples of good practice in the EU that facilitate participation by older people and support intergenerational solidarity.

The Commission was looking:

• for employers who create age-friendly workplaces;   
• for social entrepreneurs with brilliant new ideas and a strong drive to create a better society;    
• for local communities who provide facilities for people of all ages, and
• for journalists who foster more informed debate on the challenging issues of ageing and relations between older and young people.

Through the Life Story Challenge, the Commission paid tribute to the most impressive active-agers, who shared their stories with the DG. The Commissioner told the conference about three of the award-winners.

= First prize in the individual life-time achievement category went to Bruno Poder from Estonia. Bruno continued working as a surgeon until he was 80 and never lost his positive outlook or his desire to contribute to society.

= The award in the social entrepreneur category went to Typhaine de Penfentenyo from France. Her organization, Ensemble2générations (which means “two generations together”), is a success story involving different generations sharing housing. Students stay in an older person’s home for free or at a moderate rent in exchange for help and company.

This addresses three major issues: older people’s isolation, the shortage of affordable student housing, and the rift between the generations. Over 900 student-elderly partnerships have been set up, and over 15 regional branches have opened in France since 2006.

= The Danish municipality of Fredericia won the award in the age-friendly environment category. Their Life-Long Living project is an example of a new model for interaction between elderly citizens and social services. It focuses on empowering and rehabilitation rather than just delivering care to passive recipients. Fredericia does this by seeing how individuals' resources can be mobilised so they can cope by themselves. It has brought benefits to the care recipients and has reduced the cost of assistance by €70 000 a month.

The two projects: intergenerational housing and life-long living illustrate the power of social innovation. The EU needs new ideas to adapt to population ageing, as well as capable and highly committed individuals to turn them into reality.

“Senior force” as another example

Many committed individuals in Europe are older people who are ready to work for their communities as volunteers. The Commission thinks that it should pay tribute to them and get more of them involved. With this in mind, the Commission organized so-called Seniorforce Days across Europe.

These were events held around International Day of Older People to highlight the potential of older people engaged as volunteers in all sorts of cultural, political and social activities.

The Seniorforce Days drew over 11 000 participants and received widespread support from all over Europe.

On 6 October around 800 people attended a Seniorforce Day in Portugal under the banner Generations in Movement. People of all ages took part in a wide-ranging sports, health promotion, and wellness program.

EU- 2020 Strategy and ESF

Active ageing is good for the individuals as they grow older, and it is crucial to the success of the Europe 2020 Strategy, the Union’s strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.

Europe 2020 has a small number of ambitious targets, including a 75% employment rate for people aged 20 to 64 and lifting 20 million people out of poverty and social exclusion by 2020.

Active ageing policy is critical to meeting those targets in the member states, and one of its essential points is pension reform.

Pension reform is a thorny issue in the European Union: many people feel that the reforms being implemented across Europe deprive them of rights they have worked very hard for.

The fact of the matter is that rising life expectancy and a shrinking working-age population demands some adjustment. It could involve slashing pensions, or raising the contribution rate significantly; it could involve adjusting the retirement age in line with the rise in life expectancy.

Only striking a sound balance between the years people spend working and those they spend in retirement can ensure that they would have decent pensions at a reasonable cost.

But that depends on good jobs being available, and people having the right skills and staying healthy enough to do jobs.

The Commission presented its thinking on pension reform in a White Paper in February 2012 with the general thrust to translate specific recommendations to many member states.

In most cases, these involve raising the retirement age in line with the rise in life expectancy, restricting access to early retirement schemes and increasing incentives to work longer.

Many countries have already implemented such reforms or are in the process of doing so.

Such reforms work: even before the current economic crisis took grip, the trend to early retirement in the European Union had had been reversed.

As a result, older workers have actually done rather well during the current recession, and their employment rates have improved slightly.

But problems are still there to solve: across the EU, the percentage of those employed in the 55-to-64 age group ranges from only around 30% in Malta and Slovenia to 70% in Sweden.

In the EU as a whole, fewer than 50% are employed in the 55-to-64 age group.

According to the EU- 2020 strategy, employment rate target means almost 18 million more people need to be in employment by 2020, and the employment rate — especially for women — in the 55-to-64 age bracket needs raising.

Extending people’s working lives is crucial to meeting the EU- 2020 employment rate target and balancing budgets in the long run. But it means encouraging people to stay on the labour market longer and — most of all — enabling them to do so by improving their employability.

The member states also need to combat youth unemployment and make it easier for young people to get into the labour market. The European Social Fund is a very useful instrument here, and life-long learning is critical. For example, during 2007-13, one third of the overall Social Fund budget for Portugal will be spend on measures relating to life-long learning.

To meet the demands of the knowledge-based economy, the EU-27 also needs to look again at the social protection systems to make sure they support investment in human capital, through lifelong learning and up-skilling.

And member states’ social protection systems need to allow people to make the best possible use of their human capital, regardless of their age, gender or ethnic origin. This social investment approach recognises that social policy is a productive factor, and is necessary to economic development and employment growth.

Social innovation

Tackling challenges like population ageing calls for innovative policy and practice, argued the Commissioner. Social innovation needs to be promoted and tested at local level. But successful innovations must also find their way into the broader policy framework at national and European level too. Many social innovations promoting active ageing are already being tried and tested across the EU.

The Commission can help by identifying good practice and bringing it to the attention of policy-makers and stakeholders across Europe, so that they can improve their policies and systems.

The European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing is a good illustration. It brings key stakeholders together with a view to overcoming potential barriers to innovation and aims to increase the average individual’s healthy lifespan by two years by 2020.

Thanks to the EU's employment and social solidarity program (called Progress), the Commission can provide financial support for the testing of new ideas through social policy experiments.

These bridge the gap between grassroots projects and public policy, between improving existing knowledge and putting it into action.

The Commission has proposed increasing support for social innovation and social policy experimentation under the Multiannual Financial Framework for the post-2013 programming period. Once it has been adopted, the new regulation on the European Social Fund will promote social innovation in all areas within its scope "in particular with the aim of testing and scaling up innovative solutions to address social needs".

Following up on the European Year

Though it is too early to assess the impact of the Year (there are some weeks to go) but the Year has certainly mobilised a wide range of stakeholders and showcased many new initiatives to promote active ageing and strengthen solidarity between generations.

The Commission is keen to support the member states through various initiatives. First, the Commission has finalised a set of guiding principles for active ageing: they will offer a general framework for improving the conditions and opportunities for active ageing.

Those guiding principles will be endorsed by the Social Affairs Ministers in December 2012 under the Cypriot Presidency’s final month.

Secondly, to measure progress in active ageing, the Commission is working with the UN Economic Commission for Europe and the European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research in Vienna on the development of an active ageing index. It should give us an indication of the untapped active-ageing potential of both women and men in each country.

Thirdly, the Commission plans to open call for proposals in 2013 to support the member states in developing comprehensive active-ageing strategies.

At our conference in June on "Good governance for active and healthy ageing", there was broad agreement on the need for public authorities at various levels and across different policy areas to work closely together on designing effective, comprehensive strategies for active and healthy ageing.

The Commission’s conclusion was that past European Years have allowed the EU to put the public spotlight on people and their needs. There was European Year against Poverty in 2010 and European Year of Volunteering in 2011. And next year will be European Year of Citizens. European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations has encouraged the member states to step up their efforts to promote active ageing. They have come up with actions and entered into commitments.