Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, this evening we are addressing a subject of considerable importance for all European citizens. We are discussing health and the elderly, and I would say that the health systems of all the European Union Member States are experiencing, albeit to varying degrees, similar situations. In fact, they are already, at this juncture, faced with the fundamental challenge of how, in particular, to control and cover the costs of health care. The ageing of the population, developments in medical technology and rising demand for health care services have led to a significant increase in the costs of health care across the board, which, at times, cannot be sustained by current economies, and in the costs of care for the elderly throughout Europe. Here are some examples: in the European Union, the proportion of the population over the age of 65 will rise from 16.1% in 2000 to 22% in 2025 and 27% in 2050, that is a third of the population. At the same time people over the age of 80, who made up 3.6% of the population in 2000 are likely to make up 6% in 2025 and 10% in 2050. Although the provision of health care and care for the elderly remains essentially the responsibility of the Member States, we realise that this trend, owing to the significant and complex implications, cannot find an effective response at exclusively national level. These problems must be included in the context of broader European cooperation so that we can achieve successful results, as set out by the principles and goals of the Community action programme in the field of public health and the specific objectives established by the United Nations Plan of Action. In order to meet these objectives, the cooperation of all health care professionals is required. There needs to be greater cooperation in the exchange of information and best practice, research, the establishment of a data bank covering the social and health care sector containing statistical analyses and projections, and the definition of common qualitative and quantitative standards, which will establish health indicators and formulate common standards to monitor the health services. In March 2002, the Barcelona European Council also stressed the need to launch and develop cooperation between Member States in this sector, through exchanges of best practice and information and discussion of the common challenges facing them at European level. The European Union has already affirmed on various occasions the need to draw up a global strategy covering the economic, employment and social implications of an ageing population, by harnessing the full potential of people of all ages and strengthening solidarity between generations. The safeguarding and further improvement of high quality social protection and health care provision in the Member States, based on the principle of solidarity and accessibility to healthcare for all concerned, will be necessary in order to fully attain the goals of financial viability, accessibility and quality. All this should, in the future, also lead to the creation of an internal market in health services and products: an internal market not treated in the same way as a commercial product and subject to its rules, but a product subject to the rules on quality and accessibility for all, and I am saying this in particular for Mrs Jöns, who has contributed a great deal and whom I would like to thank for her work on this report. Another key aspect to take into account is the risk of overemphasising the importance of the goal of financial viability at the expense of accessibility and quality. Solutions should be defined at the earliest opportunity: there need to be awareness-raising and information campaigns, specific analyses and research, programmes to fund training projects and refresher courses for medical, nursing and care staff, as Mr Mussa also suggested. Lastly, more attention needs to be paid to certain aspects of developing health care and social services for the elderly, especially for those who are not self-sufficient, who constitute the main, most important problem, such as the treatment of mental illnesses affecting the elderly, preserving peoples’ autonomy, integration, access to rehabilitation and readjustment services, prevention, assistance and support for families caring for elderly people and combating maltreatment and neglect. Yesterday, the Commission sounded the umpteenth alarm, seeking to make us the most competitive economy in the world by 2010: precisely what was determined in Lisbon three years ago, owing to slow growth. Well, the thorny question of ageing of the population is important in this context. Therefore, in the hope that we shall soon see the European Parliament participating more actively in drawing up the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines and health policy guidelines, I would call on the Commission and the Council to take into consideration the decisions contained in this report when preparing the joint synthesis report for the Spring 2003 European Council, and also the European Convention, which should include a high level of health protection as a general goal. I believe that having a ‘Social Europe’ is the only way that we will move from being a Europe of banks and money to a Europe of people and peoples. (Applause)

Political group: PPE-DE