ESIP responds to the Public Consultation on the Green Paper on Ageing

Social protection schemes in the EU are under strain as ageing increases demand for medical and long-term care (LTC) and old-age spendingIn this contextESIP provides its recommendations touching upon all branches of social security on how to tackle demographic change while fostering active and healthy ageing. 

 

Healthcare and long-term care  

A high level of health promotion and disease prevention – including at the workplace – should be promoted in all relevant EU policies and across the lifespan. The shift from treatment to prevention would improve overall quality of life as well as older people’s autonomy, while maintaining sustainablehealthcare and long-term care systems. Investment in new digital health solutions and digital health literacy can contribute to this shift. At the same time, the development of remote medicine should be coupled with reinforced community-based healthcare and long-term care services, especially in rural areas. 

Family policies  

ESIP stresses the need to tackle healthy ageing as early as possiblebysupporting the inclusion of all childrenthroughhigh qualityearly childhood education and care (ECEC)The EU should support Member States in synergy with its different strategies touching upon ECEC and supporting the collection of statistical evidence on the effectiveness of investment in ECEC to the benefit of children, parents and their work-life balance

Health and safety at work and rehabilitation 

As work constitutes a major part of people’s lives, safe and healthy workplaces are important to enable people's well-being and healthy ageingThe Commission should support Member States in developing return to work strategiesproviding operational guidelines and an EU-level review of best practices. In addition, to foster a more inclusive labour market, the Commission should support the implementation of the right to workof persons with disabilities, including for those who acquire a disability during the course of employment, and build synergies among EU initiatives in the field.   

Pensions 

The causes of pension gaps should be tackled through labour market policies prior to retirementsuch as improvingthe participationof women and encouraging men to take on a fair share of care and domestic work responsibilities. In addition, awareness of the need to improve pension literacy should be enhancedalso throughEU support to existing projects and tools. Tsupport national efforts to reduce old-age poverty, the Commission could dedicate a specific chapter on adequate minimum pension and old-age income protection in the forthcoming Pension Adequacy Report. 

Across all policy areas, the EU could support Member States in their efforts to address challenges related to population ageing by promoting the exchange of best practices and via EU funding – particularly under EU4Health and the ESF+.Find out more about our recommendations in the ESIP reply to the public consultation