Policy Documents
Resolution of the Council of the European Union: “Opportunities and challenges of demographic change in Europe” (6226/07) dated 22 February 2007”
With the resolution “Opportunities and challenges of demographic change in Europe” (6226/07) dated 22 February 2007” the Council of the European Union has defined a clear policy position and explicitly refers to the opportunities for Europe and its regions inherent in and offered by the “silver economy”.
One of the constituting principles of the European SEN@ER network has been to view the increased ageing of the population not only as a threat or challenge but as an opportunity to improve the competitiveness and innovative abilities of the European economy and to promote growth and employment. Already in 2005, Armin Laschet, Minister for the Generations, Family, Women and Integration in the SEN@ER lead region North Rhine-Westphalia made the point when stating that “the European Unions needs a European "Silver Economy" initiative to further improve the quality of life for older citizens and to reap the benefits of the demographic change in terms of economic growth, jobs, employment and competitiveness. This initiative should be developed by the Commission and eventually implemented at all regional levels.”
With the recent resolution of the Council of the European Union, Europe has done a big step towards the achievement of this goal. Read More
The full document (in English and German) can be downloaded here.
European Commission DG Employment and Social Affairs: Communication on “The demographic future of Europe – from challenge to opportunity” dated 12 October 2006
The Commission's DG EMPL has issued a communication on the demographic future of Europe, outlining its key policy strategies to come from a pessimistic, risk-oriented view to an optimistic, opportunities-oriented view. Both the basic concept ("from risk to opportunity") and many concrete ideas have been developed in co-operation with representatives from the SEN@ER network.
More information about the communication and its content can be found here:
http://www.euractiv.com/en/socialeurope/spidla-presents-strategy-solve-demographic-crisis/article-158738
The communication itself is available for download from here:
http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/news/2006/oct/demography_en.pdf
French and German versions of both texts are also available.
Further relevant documents
- Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on Tourism and culture: two forces for growth [PDF, 133KB]
- Green Paper "Confronting demographic change: a new solidarity between the generations"
- Initiative "i2010: European Information Society 2010"
- eEurope 2005 Action Plan
- Topic "eInclusion: Participation for all in the Knowledge-based Society"
- European eHealth Action Plan
