Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2010)462 - European Year for Active Ageing (2012) - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2010)462 - European Year for Active Ageing (2012). |
|---|---|
| source | COM(2010)462  |
| date | 06-09-2010 |
The European Union is in a process of significant population ageing, as was stressed by the Commission in 2008 in its 2nd Demography Report on 'Meeting social needs in an ageing society' . According to Eurostat's latest projections released in 2008, there would be only two people of working age (15-64) for every person aged over 65 in the European Union by 2060 compared to a ratio of four to one today. The strongest push in this direction is expected to occur during the period 2015-35 when the baby boom cohorts will be in retirement. This shift is due to a combination of low birth rates and rising life expectancy. Indeed Europeans today are living longer and healthier lives than ever before. Since 1960, life expectancy has risen by eight years, and demographic projections forecast a further five-year increase over the next forty years. This is a historic achievement that deserves to be celebrated.
The EU population pyramid clearly shows an increase in cohort size just after the end of World War II, marking the start of the baby boom. From 2012 the European working-age population will start to shrink, while the population aged over 60 years will continue to increase by about two million people a year, according to a scenario that takes into account likely increases in immigration and birth rates i.
These demographic changes present both challenges and opportunities. Population ageing may increase pressure on public budgets and pension systems, as well as on the staffing of social and care services for older people. Old age is still often associated with illness and dependency, and older people can feel excluded from employment as well as from family and community life. There is a fear that the older generations might become too heavy a burden on younger, working-age people and that this could result in tensions between generations.
This view neglects, however, the significant actual and potential contribution that older people — and the baby-boom cohorts in particular — can make to society. A key opportunity for tackling the challenge of demographic ageing and preserving intergenerational solidarity consists therefore in ensuring that the baby-boom cohorts stay longer in the labour market and remain healthy, active and autonomous as long as possible.
In the framework of the Employment Strategy, Member States have started to reverse the trend to early retirement so that the EU-27 employment rate for people aged 55-64 has increased from 36.9% in 2000 to 46% in 2009. Encouraging older workers to stay in employment requires notably the improvement of working conditions and their adaptation to the health status and needs of older workers, updating their skills by providing better access to life long learning and the review of tax and benefit systems to ensure that there are effective incentives for working longer.
Active ageing is also an effective tool for tackling poverty in old age. In 2008, 19% of people aged 65+ in the European Union were at risk of poverty. A considerable number of older people experience old age as a time of marginalisation. While better employment opportunities for older people could help tackle some of the causes of poverty among this age group, active participation in voluntary activities could reduce the isolation of older people. The huge potential that older persons represent for society as volunteers or carers could be better mobilised by eliminating existing obstacles to unpaid work and by providing the right framework.
The Commission Communication on " Europe 2020 – A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth " sets out ways to exit the crisis and prepare the EU economy for the next decade. In the context of inclusive growth, the Commission highlights the importance of promoting a healthy and active ageing population to help, among other things, achieve high-employment, invest in skills and reduce poverty.
The proposed European Year for Active Ageing would encourage and support the efforts of Member States, their regional and local authorities, social partners and civil society to promote active ageing and do more to mobilise the potential of the baby boom cohorts.
It should be seen as the highlight of a major effort spanning the period 2011-2014, during which the EU would focus many of its programmes and policies on the issue of active ageing and put in place a framework in which new initiatives and partnerships supporting active ageing at all levels (Member State, regional, local, social partners, civil society) can be encouraged and publicised.
In 2011, public authorities, social partners and civil society organisations at all levels would be encouraged to commit themselves to specific goals related to active ageing; the focus would be on achievements during the European Year. The goals would be documented on a European website which would then become the website for the European Year and would also serve as a tool for monitoring and evaluation.
In 2012, the focus of the European Year would be on starting to implement the commitments made during 2011, on raising awareness among the general public, publicising these initiatives through media activities and the involvement of other multipliers. Results of active ageing projects funded under existing budget lines and programmes would be presented.
Contents
AND EXPECTED IMPACT
Consultations
Having committed itself to an inclusive approach in developing and implementing EU policies, the Commission asked for the views of stakeholders on the theme of active ageing and intergenerational solidarity, and on the form a possible European Year might take, with a view to obtaining input for its formal proposal, enhancing transparency and promoting early coordination.
Early consultation was in the form of an online questionnaire which gave Member States, social partners, NGOs and other interested parties and experts the opportunity to express their views. It was available on the web page ‘Your Voice in Europe’, the European Commission’s single access point to a wide variety of consultations, for over two months. The questionnaire focused on the following themes: threats and opportunities of ageing in relation to intergenerational solidarity, recommended policy measures, the specific role of the EU in promoting the right policy responses, topics and activities for a European Year, and the involvement of stakeholders.
Contributors were generally in favour of a European Year on the theme of active ageing. They welcomed the awareness-raising aspect, placing key themes more firmly on political and public policy agendas. They also thought it would give recognition and support to people already working on these topics, support the sharing of good practice, and generate innovative approaches and new synergies between existing players. Respondents also wanted a European Year to leave a long-term legacy, in part by generating long-lasting initiatives. Respondents of all types (civil society organisations, public authorities, social partners, etc) showed a great willingness to be involved in a European Year, indicating activities they were planning to hold which could feed into such a year, and proposing additional projects.
2.2. Expected Impact
Policy responses on active ageing generally fall within the responsibility of the Member States, which are stepping up their efforts to mobilise the potential of older people. However, responses received from Member States' national authorities were overwhelmingly supportive of the idea of action at Union level and, in particular, of a European Year. They felt that the European Union could support their endeavours by creating a more supportive environment, with increased awareness among policy makers and the general public, helping to mobilise policy makers and stakeholders at all levels, supporting mutual learning across Europe, monitoring progress, and helping to define common objectives and targets.
Current activities at EU level do not seem properly geared to dealing with what needs to be done: i raise awareness among the general public, policy makers and other stakeholders of the importance of active ageing and of the need to do more to mobilise the potential of the baby boom cohorts; i foster an exchange of information and experience between Member States and stakeholders; i give Member States and stakeholders an opportunity to develop policies by way of specific activities and by committing to specific objectives.
Broad-based support will be required at all levels of society and from a wide range of stakeholders. The key challenge is to mobilise stakeholders in a way that will generate significant action at national, regional, local and company levels across the EU. With greater political momentum and visibility for active ageing policies, policy makers can be encouraged to take more ambitious initiatives.
In a European Year with activities coordinated at EU level, the Commission would be able to ensure that specific European Year activities are consistent with other EU initiatives and programmes.
Article 151 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union says that the Union and the Member States shall have as their objectives the promotion of employment, improved living and working conditions, so as to make possible their harmonisation while the improvement is being maintained, proper social protection, dialogue between management and labour, the development of human resources with a view to lasting high employment and the combating of exclusion. In order to achieve these objectives, the Union shall support and complement the activities of the Member States regarding working conditions, the integration of persons excluded from the labour market and the combating of social exclusion (Article 153 i of the TfEU).
The objectives enumerated in Article 151 underpin the proposal for a Decision on the European Year for Active Ageing (2012), which aims at encouraging and supporting the efforts of the Member States, their regional and local authorities, social partners and civil society to promote active ageing.
The main purpose of the proposal falls within the ambit of Article 153 i, as the proposal aims at raising general awareness, stimulating a debate and mutual learning between Member States and stakeholders in order to promote better opportunities and working conditions for the participation of older workers in the labour market and to combat social exclusion.
The primary intention is to promote active ageing in employment by creating better opportunities for the participation of older workers, and to promote active ageing in society, by combating social exclusion through voluntary work, healthy ageing and autonomous living.
The proposal for a Decision consequently finds its legal basis in Article 153 i of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
The proposal for a Decision is in conformity with the principle of subsidiarity as provided for in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union, as the objectives of the proposed European Year cannot be fully achieved at Member State level due to the need for trans-national exchange of information and the EU-wide dissemination of good practice, and can therefore, by reason of the scale of the proposed action, be better achieved at EU level.
No additional funding is sought for the European Year. The flexibility for annual or multiannual priority-setting based on the budget lines and programmes of the Directorate General for Employment and other relevant programmes provides sufficient financial margin for running the Year on a scale similar to previous European Years. The administrative resources can also come from existing administrative budgets.