A Coalition for an Age-Friendly EU

2012 is the European Year for Active Ageing. You can read more about this here. On this occasion, many organisations came together to make sure that Europe is a place where all citizens can stay active as they grow older. They made a document. This document tells European countries what they should do to make this happen.

On the occasion of the launch of the 2012 European Year on Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations, a coalition of stakeholders has issued a Manifesto for an Age-Friendly European Union by 2020.

The European Year 2012 Coalition is a growing network of stakeholders with the common vision of a society in which everyone is actively included. Based on the principles of equal rights and opportunities for all citizens, the Coalition aims at promoting the objectives of the European Year. To this end, the Coalition has issued a Manifesto for an Age-Friendly European Union by 2020 proposing recommendations to the EU policy makers and stakeholders at national and local level.

More precisely, the European Year 2012 Coalition calls for the adoption of a European Strategy on Active Ageing and an age-friendly European Union with:

• an inclusive labor market, which guarantees the participation of younger and older people, supports the intergenerational knowledge transfer and enables workers to maintain their health and reconcile their work and private lives;

• accessible goods and services which are adapted to the needs of all;

• setting up a gender sensitive EU Age-Friendly Environment Network;

• creating a European Covenant of Mayors on Active and Healthy Ageing or Demographic Change;

• adopting an EU programme on Seniors for innovation in support of active and healthy ageing.

The detailed commitment and reccomendations of the Coalition will be presented today at the opening conference of the European Year.

Inclusion Europe welcomes this initiative supporting its goals and objectives. At the same time, it reminds that older people with intellectual should not be left out of this dialogue. To read more about Inclusion Europe’s position , click here.