by Asghar Zaidi, July 2011

The contexts in which the future generation of elderly will live are precarious. European pension systems still have a long way to go to reach the goals of securing financial sustainability, in view of rising longevity and other shifts in society, making it difficult to be completely optimistic about the future. Thus, a picture of the current generation of older people’s exclusion from material resources will provide us a proxy for the base situation, and it remains of particular interest to observe how these contexts vary across EU countries in terms of pension policy, adequacy of pension provision, and the public finance sustainability reforms adopted by EU countries.

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On 5 March, the Commission has issued the Joint Report on Social Protection and Social Inclusion 2009. This report examines the Member States' integrated national strategies on social inclusion, pensions, healthcare and long-term care. It reviews the main trends across the EU and at national level and is the outcome of a process involving the European Commission and the Council. Most of the work involves the Social Protection Committee (a group of high-level officials established in 2000 to serve as a vehicle for cooperative exchange between the Commission and the Member States). The 2009 report gives a clear signal on the need to implement comprehensive active inclusion strategies, to ensure long-term adequacy and sustainability of pensions, to reduce health inequalities and to improve cost-efficiency in the healthcare sector. Moreover, the report highlights the challenges that each EU country faces to promote social inclusion, adequate and sustainable pensions, and universally accessible healthcare and long-term care. These challenges are presented in the country assessments that accompany the report.
To access the Report:
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/09/96&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en