Ageing, in effect, reflects one of Europe's great social policy achievements. It reflects advances in medicine, certainly, but more generally we owe it to Europe's investment over five decades, through the excellent social systems I mentioned earlier, in the health and welfare of its citizens. My message today is that we should address the issue of ageing squarely, acknowledging the undoubted costs and difficulties which lie ahead, but also confidently and positively , in the knowledge that we have a new resource - millions of people with skill, knowledge and long experience of living and working in a complex world. Longer life and the ageing of our society have the power to create opportunities. In order to realise those opportunities we must, as individuals, review our expectations, attitudes and lifestyles and, as a society, we must alter the way we conduct public policy and the way we organise our work.
Life is more fulfilling if people remain active in old age.
Geriatric medicine tells us that maintaining active lives and healthy life-styles can be an important factor in slowing down the physical effects of the ageing process. Older people want to continue to provide for themselves, to be of service to others and to minimise their dependence. It is in the interests both of individuals and of society as a whole that they be allowed to do so. Thus it is vital that we frame our policies with the objective of enabling older people to get involved and stay involved with their communities. Older people themselves will know in what way they want to be involved, at what stage they want to move from formal working as we know it now to some other type of activity.