Brussels, 04/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - The Spanish Presidency is organising on Monday 4 and Tuesday 5 February, in Lanzarotte, a seminar on the theme "Extension of Working Life and Gradual and Flexible Retirement Schemes". The work was opened by Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou, Spanish Labour Minister Juan Carlos Aparicio, Swedish Social Security Minister Ingela Thalen, British Pensions Minister Ian Mc Cartney, and Secretary of State for the Netherlands Hans Hoogervorst. The Spanish Secretary of State for Social Security, Gerardo Camps, and the Director General at DG Employment at the European Commission, Odile Quintin, will draw the conclusions of these two days.
In his opening speech, Juan Carlos Aparicio stressed that "the viability of pensions cannot be reduced to a purely economic dimension". It is important to act so that elderly workers can continue to take part in active life "by discouraging early retirement and foreseeing voluntary gradual and flexible retirement systems that respect the specific characteristics of each of us". "Integrating and keeping elderly workers in the labour market is not a luxury, it is an economic imperative and one of the most complex challenges currently faced by Europe", continued Anna Diamantopoulou. "If we want to handle our ageing population successfully, we must mobilise all the players and adjust all our policies to new demographic realities", she specified. In an interview granted to Europa Presse, Gerardo Camps pointed out that the seminar in Lanzarotte must allow all EU countries to reflect together, with clear objectives, on how to keep people aged over 55 years on the labour market, and this should be approved at the Barcelona Summit".
"Flexible retirement systems allow workers to remain on the labour market and not to take early retirement when they are still competitive for their enterprise", commented Andrew Fielding, spokesperson for Ms Diamantopoulou. On the subject of financial sustainability, the spokesperson added: "By 2010, we shall need 3-5% of EU GDP more to pay for the babyboom pensioners who will be retiring. We must therefore guarantee the financial security and sustainability of pensions and we must do it now".