Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on a European Strategy for Older Persons (exploratory opinion at the request of the Spanish Presidency)
Date: 2023-07-12
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: EU strategy, age discrimination, care for the elderly, dependence of elderly persons, elderly person, marginalisation, older worker, pension scheme, population ageing, silver economy








C_2023349EN.01002801.xml










29.9.2023   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 349/28







Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on a European Strategy for Older Persons
(exploratory opinion at the request of the Spanish Presidency)
(2023/C 349/06)







Rapporteur:



Miguel Ángel CABRA DE LUNA











Request from the Spanish Presidency of the Council


Letter, 8.12.2022




Legal basis


Article 304 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
Exploratory opinion




Section responsible


Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship




Adopted in section


21.6.2023




Adopted at plenary


12.7.2023




Plenary session No


580




Outcome of vote
(for/against/abstentions)


189/01/02




1.   Conclusions and recommendations









1.1.


The demographic challenge facing European society needs to be addressed by policies that trigger a paradigm shift, raising the profile of older people, moving away from a care-based approach to focus on empowering them, and eradicating ageist views. This demographic challenge means that barriers must be removed and that the opportunities inherent in the ageing population must be seized.












1.2.


Older people continue to face high unemployment rates, greater risks of discrimination and isolation, and inequality in access to a decent income, which hampers active ageing. As the employment rate among older workers in the EU remains below average, there is a need for measures to adapt jobs, provide training and promote employment up to the official retirement age.












1.3.


Health, prevention and health education systems are key to prolonging longevity while ensuring that people remain in good mental and physical condition. In this regard, accessibility — especially in people’s own homes and the surrounding areas — is critical in preventing injuries that lead to dependency, and physical and mental deterioration, and prevent an active and healthy life (1).












1.4.


Investment in R & D&I, including developing technologies, products and services that are accessible to everyone and meet the wide variety of needs of older people, is necessary to support healthy and active ageing.












1.5.


On 27 January 2021, the European Commission presented its Green Paper on Ageing. One of the Green Paper’s greatest shortcomings is that it treats age and older people as an expense or cost for society, ignoring the social and economic benefits of more actively including older people, as well as the emotional dimension of ageing.












1.6.


As there have not yet been any proposals on a comprehensive ageing policy or a policy that focuses exclusively on older people, the EU needs to adopt a new European Strategy for Older Persons, with the fundamental objectives of protecting all their rights and ensuring their full participation in society and the economy. A new European Strategy for Older Persons would help bring about the necessary change in the approach to policies on age and today’s and tomorrow’s older people.












1.7.


The strategy should develop proposals and measures in the areas of equality and non-discrimination, the gender dimension, rights and access thereto, participation in society, employment, education and training, decent income and social inclusion. It should also lead to the development of national plans by Member States, including specific targets and indicators.












1.8.


The EESC calls on the European Commission to urgently present the new strategy before the end of the current term of office, supported by a Guarantee for Older People — similar to the Youth Guarantee and the Child Guarantee — to serve as a tool to put the new strategy into practice.












1.9.


The EESC calls on the Member States to adopt a new Guarantee, which will enable them to use different EU funding frameworks, such as the European Social Fund Plus, for programmes to support older people, as well as to make demography a key aspect in the European Semester process and in the formulation of country-specific recommendations.












1.10.


The EESC encourages the European Commission and the Member States to urgently draft, develop, sign, implement and monitor a European Declaration on Older People to reflect the commitment to developing a European Strategy for Older Persons during the current term of office (2019–2024).












1.11.


As set out in the EESC opinion Towards a New Care Model for the Elderly: learning from the COVID-19 pandemic (2), the EESC requests that, as recognition of older people’s fundamental rights and access thereto, and as an expression of their contributions to society, the European Commission organise a European Year of Older People.












1.12.


The EESC underlines the role of social partners and social dialogue, in line with the European social partners’ autonomous framework agreement on active ageing and an inter-generational approach (3).












1.13.


The EESC calls for consultations to be launched with civil society organisations, in particular organisations that represent older people, their families and professional organisations that support them, as well as with equality organisations, representatives of people with disabilities, service providers, social economy organisations, and so on.












1.14.


The EESC calls for public-private partnerships to be used as a complementary means of harnessing the potential of active participation by older people in areas such as culture, education, sport, tourism, and so on.












1.15.


To encourage the exchange of best practices, technical training and concrete actions in the strategy’s areas of action, the EESC calls for the creation of a European Agency for Older People, Ageing and the Demographic Challenge (4).












1.16.


The EESC calls for the coordination of ombudsmen for older people between Member States, and between the administration and the private sector. They can help older people in their dealings with public authorities, receive complaints about age-based discrimination, facilitate access to basic services and ensure a minimum income for older people (5).












1.17.


At international level, the EESC calls for the adoption of a UN Convention on the Rights of Older Persons to ensure that human rights are enjoyed equally by older people, following the examples of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (6), by ensuring the active participation of civil society organisations representing older people and relevant stakeholders.












1.18.


The EESC welcomes the creation of a unit in the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers dedicated to equality and non-discrimination based on age; the EESC encourages the Commission to set up a department dedicated to questions related to ageing and the demographic challenge that will coordinate policies for older people.












1.19.


In support of all these measures, and to reflect the EESC’s support for progress in policies for older people, the Committee recognises that it is worth considering setting up an ad hoc group to carry out initiatives related to ageing and demographic challenges and opportunities, in line with the EESC opinion ‘Towards a new care model for older people: learning from COVID-19’ (7).




2.   General comments









2.1.


The demographic challenge (the trend towards longer lives and lower birth rates in recent decades) is a central issue that will reshape society in the future, alongside climate change and the technological revolution resulting from artificial intelligence.












2.2.


It is estimated that the number of people older than 65 in EU countries will rise from 90,5 million people at the start of 2019 to 129,8 million in 2050. During this period, the number of people in the EU aged 75–84 will grow by 56,1 %, while the number of people aged 65–74 will increase by 16,6 %. By contrast, it is estimated that there will be 13,5 % fewer people aged under 55 living in the EU in 2050.












2.3.


Nevertheless, the employment rate among older workers in the EU remains below average. Only 59,1 % of those aged 55–64 were employed in 2019 versus 73,1 % of all those aged 20–64. People close to retirement age (55–64) have one of the highest poverty and social exclusion rates in the EU.












2.4.


The average retirement age in the EU is about 65, and average life expectancy is around 84, which means that most people will spend around 20 years in retirement. It is therefore necessary to promote longevity in tandem with good health.












2.5.


According to the 2019 Eurobarometer report on discrimination in the EU, age discrimination, together with gender discrimination, is the most prevalent form of discrimination in the EU.












2.6.


Older people are at greater risk of acquiring a disability, as ageing increases exposure to disability; 48,5 % of people with disabilities are over 65.












2.7.


While the aggregate pension replacement rates in the EU are 58 % (8), it is estimated that, in many countries, older people have 40 % of the wealth and a significant share in the purchasing power, which is unevenly distributed between women and men and across income groups. This gives older people considerable potential as major consumers.












2.8.


Older consumers make up a large part of the economy and their share in consumption will continue to grow. The silver economy is expected to grow across the EU by around 5 % per year to reach EUR 5,7 trillion in 2025 (9).












2.9.


The EU must put in place effective strategies that need to take into account each region’s demographic dynamic and economic development, as well as addressing the opportunities that may emerge from the silver economy (10).




3.   New EU policy on the rights of older people









3.1.


At the last World Assembly on Ageing, held in Madrid in 2002, the UN presented its International Plan of Action on Ageing, the first international agreement that recognises that older people contribute to the development of society, and set up the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing.












3.2.


On 27 January 2021, the European Commission presented its Green Paper on Ageing: Fostering solidarity and responsibility between generations (11), laying the groundwork for future policies to support older people.












3.3.


It concludes that healthy and active ageing has a positive impact on the labour market, employment rates and social protection systems, and thereby on the growth and productivity of the economy.












3.4.


The Green Paper acknowledges the need for concrete and decisive action to support older people in all policy areas but does not formulate a specific programme of initiatives as such to be developed by the EU and the Member States.












3.5.


New EU policies must trigger a paradigm shift, raising the profile of older people, moving away from a care-based approach to focus on empowering them, and eradicating ageist views.




4.   Towards a European strategy









4.1.


While the Green Paper was a further step towards implementing the commitments made in the Madrid Plan two decades ago, it has a number of shortcomings that need to be addressed, as there have not yet been any proposals for a comprehensive ageing policy or a policy that focuses exclusively on older people.












4.2.


One of the Green Paper’s greatest shortcomings is that it treats age and older people as an expense or cost for society, ignoring the social and economic benefits of more actively including older people. It continuously links age to decline, passivity and vulnerability. Harnessing the potential of ageing requires a vision based on human rights, well-being, older people’s contribution to society and the economy, and tools to enable this contribution.












4.3.


A number of initiatives closely linked to age have been presented and discussed over the last few years, such as the European care strategy, the 2020–2024 Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy, the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan, the commitments made by Member States with regard to the UN initiative on the impact of COVID-19 on older persons, and the various EU Council conclusions on Human Rights, Participation and Well-Being of Older Persons in the Era of Digitalisation (12), on Mainstreaming Ageing in Public Policies (13) and on a human-rights-based post-COVID-19 recovery (14).












4.4.


A new European Strategy for Older Persons would help bring about the necessary change in the approach to policies on age and today’s and tomorrow’s older people, emphasising human, social and economic opportunities and improving active citizenship and participation, as older people still have intellectual, economic and social capital that often goes to waste. The strategy will support solidarity between generations and a life-cycle approach in order to prevent and reduce age-related challenges, correcting the current approach of seeing ageing as a cost.












4.5.


It will also make it possible to consolidate the fundamental principles of the initiatives drawn up by the EU and international organisations since the Madrid Plan was signed in 2002, while proposing concrete measures and plans for policymaking in the field of older people.












4.6.


The European Strategy for Older Persons will crystallise an intergenerational pact based on respect and solidarity between generations, with the fundamental objectives of access to lifelong quality education opportunities, to regulated employment with decent jobs and to extensive social protection systems covering all members of society (15).












4.7.


Furthermore, the strategy will be useful not only for older people but also for the entire population, including carers for older people, and it will also prepare the younger generations for their own ageing process.




5.   Pillars of the new European Strategy for Older Persons









5.1.


The new European strategy should address the challenges faced by all older people as the heterogeneous group that they are and at the same time promote the policy action needed to seize all the opportunities offered by active and healthy ageing.












5.2.


The European strategy should be built on policies to prepare for, prevent and anticipate the consequences of ageing, and policies for ensuring older people’s participation and active citizenship, such as lifelong learning, healthy ageing and active participation. These are the best areas in which to invest in order to minimise age-related inequalities and the social and economic burdens arising from ageing (16). The strategy will encourage people to take appropriate action to address the consequences of their ageing.












5.3.


As part of the strategy, Member States should develop their own national ageing plans with specific targets and indicators to measure the effectiveness of policies supporting older people. They should also propose specific measures to support the objectives and pillars of the European strategy.




5.4.   Equality and non-discrimination









5.4.1.


Equality and non-discrimination on the basis of age are fundamental principles that are laid down in the Treaties and in EU legislation. Yet ageism persists in too many areas of our lives, creating obstacles to older people’s full participation in our society.












5.4.2.


Therefore, the future strategy for older people should be used to:












5.4.2.1.


Strengthen equality regardless of age as a fundamental principle and as a dimension to be included in all EU policies, and support the adoption of the Council Directive on implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation (17).












5.4.2.2.


Propose concrete actions to raise awareness of age-based discrimination, older people and their rights and opportunities for including them, as well as promoting a positive image of age.












5.4.2.3.


Ensure that the Member States and national and European courts rigorously and impartially implement the Employment Equality Directive and propose guidelines to better define the principle of equality regardless of age in employment matters.












5.4.2.4.


Pay special attention to older women, as they enjoy longer life expectancy than men, can remain active for longer and are in turn more exposed to discrimination and loneliness.












5.4.2.5.


Propose measures to address the multiple and intersectional forms of discrimination experienced by older people, including problems faced by older people with disabilities, older LGBTIQ+ people, older people from ethnic minorities and older migrants.












5.4.2.6.


Rectify the current exclusion of older people from data, statistics and opinion polls produced by public bodies, including Eurostat and Eurobarometer, addressing age limitations in surveys, age brackets within the category ‘older people’ and the lack of information on older people living in institutions. Ensure that data are collected, disaggregated, analysed, used and disseminated for all ages and other characteristics and that Member States collect adequate, comparable and reliable data.












5.4.2.7.


Ensure that the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights better integrates the issues of age discrimination and older people’s human rights into its work.




5.5.   Participation in society









5.5.1.


Promoting older people’s participation, especially in economic life, will be instrumental in seizing the opportunities that their greater inclusion offers in social and economic terms.












5.5.2.


To ensure the full active participation of older people, the new strategy should propose specific initiatives, at the appropriate level of competence, to:












5.5.2.1.


Ensure that older people can access the built environment — including ensuring the accessibility of older people’s own homes — and digital goods and services, ensuring the implementation and monitoring of legal instruments such as the European Accessibility Act, the Web Accessibility Directive, legislation on the accessibility of transport and the various accessibility-related obligations laid down in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).












5.5.2.2.


Promote initiatives and policies that comply with Article 19 of the CRPD, ensuring independent living and inclusion in the community for all ages.












5.5.2.3.


Support the Cities for All initiative — green and inclusive smart urban planning models — to address the risks of isolation and loneliness in both urban and rural areas. Design for all, mobility and interpersonal relationships are essential for a social life.












5.5.2.4.


Where necessary, remove barriers that exclude older people from democratic or constituent processes, such as elections to the European Parliament, by treating them like a significant electoral force with full rights.












5.5.2.5.


Overcome the digital divide and digital poverty by allocating financial support and launching initiatives to improve infrastructure, support equipment and training to contribute to digital literacy at all ages, while maintaining the obligation for essential goods and services to also remain accessible outside the digital sphere.












5.5.2.6.


Safeguard public transport and other essential services, such as care, healthcare, housing, culture, leisure, active participation in social life and so on.












5.5.2.7.


Support the European Commission’s recommendations to combat loneliness, ensuring that, in the context of the current demographic changes, mental health, social and long-term care services are accessible, affordable, integrated, community-based and easy to use. Moreover, support the Member States by collecting and sharing best practices through the new European Agency for Older People, Ageing and the Demographic Challenge (18).












5.5.2.8.


Suggest measures to protect the rights of older consumers, as they are considered vulnerable consumers in the EU acquis.












5.5.2.9.


Propose measures to promote volunteering with added value for older people, setting up mentoring programmes where older people can share their work experience with younger generations.












5.5.2.10.


Invest in R & D to support healthy and active ageing, including developing technologies, products and services that are accessible to everyone, with the direct involvement of older people, in order to meet their wide variety of needs, and to promote social innovation.












5.5.2.11.


Continue with the implementation of the action plan on digital education that will help the Member States create conditions conducive to developing advanced and specialised digital skills as part of lifelong learning (19) instead of being linked only to labour market participation, and to lay the groundwork for specific measures targeting older people and their environment.




5.6.   Employment, education and training









5.6.1.


The current demographic challenge means that barriers must be removed and opportunities seized to enable the inclusion in the labour market of older people and of those who wish to work beyond their retirement age. The strategy should encourage the exchange of best practices between Member States to improve employment among older people.












5.6.2.


The strategy should be built on a flexible model in which there are several periods of transition between learning, work, family care and inactivity/retirement at different stages of a person’s life, even after the statutory retirement age. Support and care services for all generations, including childcare and long-term care, should enable people of all ages — both women and men — to actively participate in society. The strategy should include specific measures to support informal carers given the crucial role they play in the lives of older people in care. In this respect, specific recommendations could be made in terms of work-life balance, wage compensation or financial support, a wide variety of respite options for those caring for dependent relatives, access to advice and training services, and so on.












5.6.3.


In this regard, the European Strategy should, in accordance with the competences of the Member States:












5.6.3.1.


Assess the impact of the age-based derogations set out in the employment and minimum wage Directives, propose guidelines for the implementation of age-based equality principles in employment and where necessary, identify other ways of or specific changes for improving the implementation of the directives and prevent discrimination against older people that wish to remain in the labour market.












5.6.3.2.


Encourage intergenerational mentoring through specific programmes.












5.6.3.3.


In line with current policies, combat and prevent physical and psychosocial risks such as stress and burnout in the next EU strategic framework on health and safety at work.












5.6.3.4.


Foster entrepreneurship among older people by assessing existing barriers such as loss of pension rights, facilitate access to finance and promote incubators for intergenerational co-entrepreneurship and transfers of businesses from older business owners or entrepreneurs to younger entrepreneurs (20), and encourage initiatives within the social economy.












5.6.3.5.


Promote the social economy as a person-centred sector providing benefits for society as it can offer older people new employment and entrepreneurship opportunities (21).












5.6.3.6.


Promote and improve accessibility to Erasmus+ and educational technology programmes for older people, making full use of their intergenerational outreach, offering older people learning and academic mobility opportunities, including in places where it is difficult to access education, such as long-term care facilities. The opportunities offered by micro-credentials and digital learning tools, such as massive open online courses (MOOCs), should also be fully exploited.












5.6.3.7.


Propose measures to improve older people’s financial education, which could lead to the use of inactive resources and greater competitiveness. Particular attention should be paid to developing older people’s skills to enable them to act as informed investors and to avoid inappropriate financial investments or consumption.












5.6.3.8.


Develop proposals to prevent brain drain from all generations, whether between Member States or outside the EU, building on the European Skills Agenda for sustainable competitiveness, social fairness and resilience (22).




5.7.   Decent income and social inclusion









5.7.1.


In 2019, the proportion of retired people aged over 65 at risk of poverty in the EU was 15,1 %. Between 2010 and 2019, the proportion of women over 65 receiving a pension who were at risk of poverty in the EU was between 3 and 4 percentage points higher than that of men.












5.7.2.


To remedy this situation and minimise the risks of poverty and social exclusion among older people, in line with the Member States’ exclusive powers and bearing in mind the role of the social partners, the strategy should promote decent incomes for older people by proposing initiatives to:












5.7.2.1.


Develop pension systems to provide adequate pensions so that pensioners need not rely on minimum income support as stated in the EESC opinion on the Council Recommendation on adequate minimum income ensuring active inclusion (23). In line with this, evaluate together with the Member States the possibility for convergent measures to ensure minimum income for all older persons and help them remain employed if they wish to.












5.7.2.2.


Develop a Guarantee for Older People that protects them from poverty and enables them to live a decent and participatory life from the age of 65, including specific support for those over 75/80, according to the characteristics of the Member States.












5.7.2.3.


Ensure that pensions remain adequate over time, guaranteeing, where appropriate, that pensions are indexed in line with the cost of living and taking into account the specific expenses incurred by older people (such as healthcare, long-term care, etc.).












5.7.2.4.


Reduce the gender pension gap and, where necessary, promote the introduction of care credits into social protection and/or tax systems.












5.7.2.5.


Create a framework for universal access to pension rights, including for men and women, self-employed people, people in new forms of employment such as the social economy, people with disabilities (including those in sheltered employment) and people excluded from the labour market.












5.7.2.6.


Propose action to raise awareness of and combat violence and abuse against older people, especially older women.






Brussels, 12 July 2023.


The President of the European Economic and Social Committee

Oliver RÖPKE
            





(1)  For example, France’s anti-fall plan: Plan antichute des personnes âgées.

(2)  Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on ‘Towards a new care model for older people: learning from COVID-19’ (own-initiative opinion) (OJ C 194, 12.5.2022, p. 19).

(3)  European social partners’ autonomous framework agreement on active ageing and an inter-generational approach (2017).

(4)  Friends of Europe.

(5)  
            Current and future challenges for ombudsman institutions — Network in Focus 2019 (europa.eu).

(6)  As set out in the Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the promotion and protection of the human rights of older persons from March 2022.

(7)  Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on ‘Towards a new care model for older people: learning from COVID-19’ (own-initiative opinion) (OJ C 194, 12.5.2022, p. 19).

(8)  Eurostat.

(9)  Silver Economy Study: How to stimulate the economy by hundreds of millions of Euros per year, Shaping Europe’s future digital (europa.eu).

(10)  European Commission Atlas of Demography.

(11)  COM(2021) 50 final.

(12)  Council Conclusions on Human Rights, Participation and Well-Being of Older Persons in the Era of Digitalisation (2020).

(13)  Council Conclusions on Mainstreaming Ageing in Public Policies (2021).

(14)  Council conclusions on a human-rights-based post-COVID-19 recovery (2021).

(15)  Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on ‘Towards a new care model for older people: learning from COVID-19’ (own-initiative opinion) (OJ C 194, 12.5.2022, p. 19).

(16)  UN report on the Decade of Healthy Ageing, 2021-2030.

(17)  Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on Improving equality in the EU (own-initiative opinion) (OJ C 75, 28.2.2023, p. 56), and Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Proposal for a Council directive on implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation’ (COM(2008) 426 final (Additional opinion)) (OJ C 182, 4.8.2009, p. 19).

(18)  Communication from the European Commission on a comprehensive approach to mental health, COM(2023) 298 final.

(19)  Proposal for a Council Recommendation on improving the provision of digital skills in education and training, COM(2023) 206 final.

(20)  Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on Business transfers as promoters of sustainable recovery growth in the SME sector (own-initiative opinion) (OJ C 486, 21.12.2022, p. 9).

(21)  Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on ‘Towards a new care model for older people: learning from COVID-19’ (own-initiative opinion) (OJ C 194, 12.5.2022, p. 19).

(22)  COM(2020) 274 final.

(23)  Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the Proposal for a Council recommendation on adequate minimum income ensuring active inclusion (COM(2022) 490 final — 2022/0299 (NLE)) (OJ C 184, 25.5.2023, p. 64) and Council Recommendation on adequate minimum income ensuring active inclusion (OJ C 41, 3.2.2023, p. 1).