With a view to the publication of its Green Paper on Ageing in early 2021, the European Commission opened a consultation on its roadmap on ageing on Monday 16 November. Citizens, stakeholders, organisations, local authorities and Member States have until 14 December to participate.
Europe is going through “a process of profound demographic change”, with a decrease in its population of working age and a predicted increase in the number of elderly people, the European institution recalls.
Anticipating the consequences of these changes on the EU’s ability to sustain economic growth and the standard of living of its population, the Commission intends, through its Green Paper, to “discuss ways to anticipate and respond to the socio-economic impacts of demographic change”.
According to the mission letter from the President of the Commission to the relevant Commissioner, Dubravka Šuica, this initiative will also have to be accompanied by a debate on the long-term consequences of ageing, particularly on care and pensions, and on “how to foster active ageing”.
The Commission, once its Green Paper has been unveiled, therefore plans to launch a 12-week public consultation. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)