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AGE Platform Europe

AGE

AGE Platform Europe is a European network of organisations representing older people's rights and interests at EU level.

Lobbying Activity

Meeting with Hadja Lahbib (Commissioner) and

12 Jan 2026 · Discussion on the rights of older persons

Meeting with Eva Schultz (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu)

27 Nov 2025 · Measures against discrimination based on age

Meeting with Ana Carla Pereira (Director Justice and Consumers)

5 Nov 2025 · Exchange of views on the AGE proposal for an EU Action Plan to Combat Ageism

Meeting with Alice Kuhnke (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur) and The European Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association and

5 Nov 2025 · Anti-discrimination

Meeting with Nina Carberry (Member of the European Parliament)

8 Sept 2025 · EU Policies for Older People

AGE Platform Europe Urges EU to Tackle Old-Age Poverty

8 Aug 2025
Topic — This consultation concerns the creation of a comprehensive new EU Anti-Poverty Strategy.
Message — They request the strategy tackle ageism and provide basic pensions for all older people. The organization seeks automatic payment increases and age-friendly workplaces for older employees. They also ask for guaranteed access to digital services and energy-efficient housing.123
Why — Older populations would receive stronger financial protection and better access to essential services.4
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Response to Quality Jobs Roadmap

10 Jul 2025

The Quality Jobs Roadmap must address the challenges of an ageing workforce. As highlighted by the AGE Barometer 2023, older workers face persistent barriers like ageism, limited training access, and unsuitable workplaces. Despite demographic shifts, they remain underrepresented in employment policies, with older womens employment rates as low as 40% in some EU countries. To ensure fair and inclusive employment, the Roadmap must adopt a human rights and life-course approachrecognising older workers' diversity and supporting their continued participation through flexible, empowering policies. Key Recommendations: 1. Combat age discrimination and promote workplaces for all ages Monitor and review of the Employment Framework Directive to ensure stronger protection against age discrimination in the workplace, including addressing justified exceptions and age limits which build upon and reinforce ageist stereotypes. Launch an EU-wide campaign to raise awareness of the negative impact of ageism in employment.. Promote the value of age-diverse workforces by encouraging employers, policymakers, and judiciary bodies to recognise and seize the benefits of recruiting and retaining workers across all ages. 2. Ensure access to lifelong learning Strengthening implementation of the Council Recommendations on Upskilling Pathways and Individual Learning accounts and ensuring initiatives developed under the Union of Skills are inclusive of older adults and responsive to their specific learning and employment needs. Promote a person-centered approach that empowers individuals of all ages, including through access to paid educational leave, removing age limits to training, and developing learning opportunities with the evolving demands of the green and digital transitions. Encouraging career reviews at several stages of life to assess employees challenges, skills, aspirations, and barriers to participation.. 3. Adapt workplaces and working conditions for all ages Promote age-friendly workplaces, including ergonomic adjustments, accessible technologies, and health and safety measures tailored to older workers. Review the Work-Life Balance Directive, increasing carers leave days, guarantee minimum remuneration standards, and protect carers, especially older women, from dismissal or forced early retirement. Promote sustainable and flexible working time models by encouraging Member States and employers to pilot and scale up reduced working time arrangements without increasing daily hours or reducing pay. Tackle physical and psychosocial risks at work, tailoring the EU Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Framework to the evolving needs of ageing workers, such as strong symptoms of menopause for older women. 4. Foster flexible work and phased retirement options Remove barriers to continued work, such as mandatory retirement policies and restrictions on combining pensions with employment income. Develop EU guidance and recommendations for companies on adopting age equality plans and creating job opportunities beyond statutory retirement ages. Guarantee adequate social protection and income security at all ages, including for older workers in non-standard or precarious employment. 5. Monitor progress and promote policy coherence Include disaggregated data by gender and age groups in the Roadmaps monitoring framework, covering employment rates, training access, and working conditions. Develop a European-wide job quality indicator to monitor working conditions and track improvements across all age groups Develop EU guidance and recommendations for Member States and companies on adopting national strategies on ageing at work, aligned with the European Pillar of Social Rights and the green and digital transitions.
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Meeting with Susanne Knoefel (Head of Unit Justice and Consumers)

1 Jul 2025 · Exchange of views on age equality

AGE Platform Europe Urges More Inclusive EU Social Policy

24 Jun 2025
Topic — The consultation seeks to update the Action Plan for the European Pillar of Social Rights.
Message — The group calls for removing age limits in education and digital training. They advocate for a dedicated action plan to combat ageism and stronger social protections.12
Why — Older adults would gain improved financial security and better access to essential public services.34
Impact — Member States would face increased fiscal pressure from mandated social protection and pension indexing.56
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Meeting with Halliki Voolma (Cabinet of Commissioner Hadja Lahbib)

20 May 2025 · Meeting to discuss EU action on age equality

Meeting with Alina-Stefania Ujupan (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu), Miron Podgorean (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu)

8 Apr 2025 · The integration of old age in future initiatives and the elaboration of age-conscious policymaking

Meeting with Alice Kuhnke (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur)

18 Mar 2025 · Anti-discrimination

Meeting with Kim Van Sparrentak (Member of the European Parliament) and European Disability Forum and Equinet - the European Network of Equality Bodies

19 Feb 2025 · Withdrawal horizontal anti-discrimination directive

Meeting with Alice Kuhnke (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur) and European Disability Forum and

19 Feb 2025 · Anti-discrimination

Meeting with Ana Carla Pereira (Director Justice and Consumers) and

17 Jan 2025 · Exchange of views on age equality

Meeting with Deša Srsen (Cabinet of Commissioner Glenn Micallef)

9 Jan 2025 · Intergenerational Fairness Strategy

Meeting with Idoia Mendia (Member of the European Parliament)

17 Dec 2024 · Meeting with AGE Platform Europe

Meeting with Gordan Bosanac (Member of the European Parliament)

5 Dec 2024 · Pensioners' rights

Meeting with Catarina Martins (Member of the European Parliament)

14 Nov 2024 · Intergroup on aging

Meeting with Benedetta Scuderi (Member of the European Parliament)

3 Oct 2024 · Intergroup

Meeting with Luke Ming Flanagan (Member of the European Parliament)

2 Oct 2024 · old age

Meeting with Idoia Mendia (Member of the European Parliament)

9 Jul 2024 · Meeting with AGE Platform

Meeting with Josianne Cutajar (Member of the European Parliament)

24 Jan 2024 · Launch of the AGE Manifesto

Meeting with José Gusmão (Member of the European Parliament)

24 Jan 2024 · AGE Manifesto

AGE Platform Europe urges EU to explicitly protect older victims

26 Sept 2023
Topic — A revision of EU rules ensuring all crime victims can access support and justice.
Message — The organization calls for the explicit inclusion of older people in targeted protection actions and prevention measures. They demand stronger reporting mechanisms for crimes in care institutions and the preservation of non-digital access to justice and information.123
Why — Improved visibility and specialized support would ensure protection mechanisms finally reflect older victims' realities.45
Impact — Care institutions would face increased oversight and reporting obligations comparable to detention facilities.6
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Meeting with Malik Azmani (Member of the European Parliament)

20 Sept 2023 · European elections

Response to Mid-term review of the LGBTIQ Equality Strategy 2020-2025

13 Sept 2023

Older LGBTI+ people run the risk of facing the accumulated effects of stigmas and discrimination experienced throughout their lives based on their actual or perceived age (ageism), actual or perceived sexual orientation (homophobia, lesbophobia, biphobia), gender identity or gender expression (transphobia), or sex characteristics (interphobia) . Yet, these intersecting and lifelong inequalities remain widely unknown and unaddressed. To increase visibility of the challenges faced by older LGBTI, we have partnered with ILGA Europe and EL*C. Some of the key challenges facing older LGBTI that have not yet been adequately reflected in EU policy include: -Lack of legal and social recognition of same-sex relationships or ones legal gender that leads to socioeconomic exclusion and social protection. -Financial insecurity. -Social isolation, exclusion, and invisibility. -Inadequate, discriminatory and stigmatising healthcare services. -Lack of access to education and information on sexual health that is mainly targeting younger people. -Discrimination in long-term care facilities, from residents, staff and institutional structures. -Exposure to violence and abuse To fully implement the EU Strategy there is a need to: -Collect, use, and analyse data disaggregated by age, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics. This data should be disaggregated by different age sub-groups to reflect the diversity of older LGBTI persons. -Future studies that include research on older LGBTI people should reach out to a variety of older populations, including those that live in care settings (so often harder to reach) and those who are digitally excluded. -Recall that older LGBTI persons are not a homogeneous group but a very diverse group, facing different forms of discrimination. -Address the multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination that older LGBTI people face -Assess with Member States how to ensure equitable access for LGBTI people to pensions without discrimination. -Exchange good practices regarding social inclusion of older LGBTI people in care homes. -Ensure that transition-related healthcare is covered by health insurance, including for those in assisted living facilities. -Expressly mandate equality bodies to investigate multiple discrimination and matters affecting older LGBTI people and make sure that older people are able to report abuses or discriminatory practices easily through publicised mechanisms and are informed of their rights. -Assess the needed legislative changes to allow for succession rights and joint tenancies to be available for all couples and provide specific information and support to older LGBTI people on possibilities of passing their benefits, assets and inheritance to their surviving partner. -Make sure that support services available to older people are inclusive and respectful of all, including LGBTI people. Read more at: -INTERSECTIONS: THE LGBTI II SURVEY OLDER PEOPLE ANALYSIS: https://www.ilga-europe.org/report/intersections-older-people-diving-into-the-fra-lgbti-ii-survey-data/ -Making the Invisible Visible:an analysis of older lesbians lived experiences: https://europeanlesbianconference.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Making-the-Invisible-Visible-an-analysis-of-older-lesbians-lived-experiences_ELC-research.pdf
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Response to Civil aspects of the cross-border protection of vulnerable adults

18 Aug 2023

AGE Platform Europe (AGE) recognises the importance of conflict of laws legislation as a means to provide legal certainty, avoid gaps and promote the uniform application of substantive international law including in the EU. However, we deeply regret that the proposed Regulation includes provisions which does not align with international human rights law and would lead to violations of the rights of older persons and persons with disabilities. Even though the proposed regulation mentions the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), several binding provisions are not in line with the obligations set by the Convention, in particular equality and non-discrimination of all persons with disabilities (art. 5), equal recognition under the law (art. 12), liberty and security (art. 14), integrity of the person (art. 17) and independent living (art. 19). In addition, while we welcome that the proposed regulation has been drafted with a consciousness of ageing (see recitals p. 2 introduction), we regret : (i) that it tends to equate ageing with disability, loss of ability to protect ones interests (p.2) and Alzheimers disease (p.15). The EU should refrain from such stereotypical generalizations, which are both ageist and scientifically and pragmatically untrue. Instead, it should refer to disability and cognitive decline in general regardless of its cause or age at which it occurs. (ii) It fails to make reference to and take stock of EU policies, laws and documents on ageing, including article 25 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which recognizes the right of the elderly to live a life in dignity and independence and participate in social and cultural life; the Green Paper on Ageing, recent EU Council conclusions on ageing, the EESC opinion on an EU strategy for older persons as well as the report of the FRA on a rights-based approach to ageing, all of which make the case for a fundamental shift in the way that we see ageing and older persons and the need to facilitate their autonomy and full inclusion in society. Finally, we align ourselves with the joint submission on the adequacy of the European Commissions proposal for a Regulation and Council Decision governing the Hague Convention on the Protection of Adults made by the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities and the UN Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons, which argues that the core of the proposed Regulation does not comply with the CRPD. Unless the provisions of the proposed Regulation are revised to comply with the CRPD and more recent documents enshrining a rights based approach to ageing, AGE Platform Europe would be against the adoption of the regulation.
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Meeting with Karima Delli (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur) and European Transport Workers' Federation and

16 May 2023 · Driving Licence Directive

Meeting with Alicia Homs Ginel (Member of the European Parliament) and European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities

28 Mar 2023 · Socio-health care model with a person-centered approach

Meeting with Tilly Metz (Member of the European Parliament) and EUROPEAN TRADE UNION CONFEDERATION and

16 Feb 2023 · Stakeholder Exchange on COVID

AGE Platform Europe Urges Rights-Based Focus on Older People

10 Feb 2023
Topic — The EU is developing a strategy to address mental health challenges and policy integration.
Message — The group calls for a strategy rooted in human rights that includes older people in policy design. They advocate for a psychosocial model to tackle accumulated inequalities over a life course.12
Why — This would prevent older adults from being denied health services solely because of their age.3
Impact — Pharmaceutical companies may lose revenue if psychosocial support replaces overmedication in nursing care settings.4
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Meeting with Kathleen Van Brempt (Member of the European Parliament, Committee chair)

10 Jan 2023 · Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the elderly

Meeting with Antonius Manders (Member of the European Parliament)

30 Nov 2022 · Pension Adequacy

Meeting with Helena Dalli (Commissioner) and Amnesty International Limited and

6 Apr 2022 · Cabinet Dalli invited Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to discuss concerns equality and non-discrimination CSOs are raising regarding the situation of people fleeing from the Ukraine

Response to Recommendation on minimum income

1 Apr 2022

AGE welcomes the Commission’s initiative for a Council Recommendation on minimum income and stresses that it should take a life-span approach, meaning it should also address concerns about minimum income in older age. Older persons are a significant part of recipients of social benefits – pensions, unemployment benefits or other – and therefore vulnerable to inadequate levels of minimum incomes, lack of coverage or access to minimum incomes, problems of coordination and other concerns outlined by the Commission in its Roadmap. In a context of rising rates of poverty and social exclusion of older persons, as well as rapid price increases for basic goods and services, all forms of benefits should be included in the scope of the minimum income Recommendation. AGE calls in particular for the following elements: • Access: grant access to minimum income, including minimum pensions, on a basis of non-discrimination • Adequacy: define adequacy both relative to national poverty thresholds and to a reference budget methodology, reflecting the price of a basket of goods and services that are needed to live in dignity and according to different life situations • Adaptation of minimum income: ensure that minimum incomes are adapted annually, based on a fixed methodology and at least on the evolution of prices of a reference budget as fixed for defining adequacy, but also in line with salary developments • Outreach: explore auto-enrolment of eligible persons into minimum income schemes • Integration: provide enabling services to all beneficiaries of minimum income schemes and avoid traps such as reduction of other benefits • Partnership: involve civil society organisations in the design and implementation of minimum income schemes and explore synergies to fight social isolation
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Meeting with Stelios Kympouropoulos (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur)

30 Mar 2022 · European Care Strategy

Response to Proposal for a Council Recommendation on long-term care

29 Mar 2022

This response is submitted on behalf of AGE Platform Europe, the largest network of organisations of and for older persons in Europe. According to the Social Protection Committee’s 2021 Report on Long-Term Care, Europe will face an increase of the number of persons in need for care and support to 130 million by 2050, a rise o by 41%. The Social Protection Committee also underlines the extent of unmet care needs. About one in three persons in need for care and support in the EU is not able to access formal care, while the care needs of persons with lower incomes are more often higher than for persons with higher incomes. There is a strong gender dimension to unmet care needs, as about 37% of women over 65 report needs for long-term care, versus 23% of men 65+. Women live 3.5 years longer than men on average, and spend 12.7 years with a chronic health condition or disability, compared to 9.2 years for men. The pandemic has brought to light a broad lack of esteem for the long-term care sector, as more than half of fatalities due to COVID-19 took place in long-term care settings, with reports of lack of protection for cared-for persons and staff, denial of medical treatment to confirmed or suspected cases of severe infections and blanket rules effectively leading to social isolation, loneliness and the related decrease in mental and physical health in older persons in need for care and support. Fatalities and issues related to home care have unfortunately not yet been researched in this context. Against this background, AGE welcomes the announcement of the EU Care Strategy and has high hopes that it forms the starting point of not only formulating a necessary policy in the light of the demographic and economic considerations linked to long-term care, but triggers also change in accordance with the ambitions of the EU to be a global leader on values. The EU can thereby also contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 3) and the United Nations Decade on Healthy Ageing. AGE has led a reflection process about our vision of long-term care, to ensure it is truly rights-based and adapted to the context of advancing longevity, setting out a policy brief with the result of these reflections (in annex). In the following, we will highlight the main points of importance that should be developed in the EU Care Strategy: 1. Taking a rights-based approach to long-term care 2. Choice as a fundamental element of the right to long-term care 3. Social protection approach to long-term care 4. Long-term care as a setting to live and strive 5. Prevention of long-term care needs and their reinforcement 6. Mainstream palliative care 7. Support informal carers: 8. Investment and improving working conditions in long-term care 9. Measuring quality and accessibility 10. Prevention of elder abuse 11. Strong governance and follow-up of the Strategy What precisely we mean with these points and recommendations on how to include them into the initiative on the care Strategy is outline in the document in annex.
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Meeting with Dubravka Šuica (Vice-President)

26 Jan 2022 · Demography, demographic trends and ageing

Response to Extension of the list of EU crimes to hate speech and hate crime

20 Apr 2021

Older persons, in particular those facing multiple forms of discrimination, such as women and persons with disabilities, are at higher risk of being victims of hate speech, violence, abuse and harassment. Elder abuse, a category that can cover both hate speech and hate crime towards older people, remains a hidden reality despite the worrying levels of prevalence across Europe. According to WHO, about 3% of older persons in Europe suffer maltreatment in the community, and this can affect up to 25% of older persons with high care needs. Ageism is often the driver of abuse, but also leads to overlooking the consequences abuse has on older people and to failing to address it with the same level of seriousness and determination as other forms of crime and human rights violations. Based on the 2019 Eurobarometer Report on Discrimination in the EU, age discrimination - alongside gender discrimination - is the most frequently experienced form of discrimination in the EU. Over 40 % of individuals believe that age discrimination is widespread in their country. The 2021 UN Global Report on ageism shows that in Europe, more than one in three people over 65 reported having been a target of ageism. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19, we have witnessed an unprecedented amount of ageism and hate speech. The pandemic has been called an opportunity to remove or cull older people, with some voices literally welcoming the virus as a “remover” of older persons. The rhetoric of influential decision-makers has been ageist, and we have seen the wilful pitting of generation against generation in claims that responses to the pandemic are harming the young in order to save the old. Older persons have also been victims of serious crimes of neglect and abuse in care homes, where, in some cases, older residents have been abandoned and left to die. There is evidence of an increase of prevalence of elder abuse at home and the community, too. Protection from hate speech and hate crime on the basis of age across EU member states is largely missing, even though some countries have extended or are now considering extending the list of protected grounds in their penal codes to cover also age. In addition, not all EU member states offer comprehensive protection on harassment on the basis of age. The lack of recognition of age as a ground that incites hate speech and crime and the lack of sanctions for related offenses leads to lower reporting and lack of information on the extent of hate speech and hate crime against older persons. AGE calls on the EU to: • Extend the list of EU crimes to cover hate speech and hate crime beyond the grounds currently covered by Framework Decision 2008/913/JHA. The list of EU crimes and EU legislation and initiatives to combat hate speech and hate crime should also cover the ground of age, among other discrimination grounds included under Article 19 TFEU. • Collect data on ageism and age discrimination and hate speech and hate crime, disaggregated by age and other grounds (at a minimum gender and disability as aggravating factors) • Involve representative organisations of older persons and victims of hate speech and hate crime in the design, implementation, monitoring and assessment of initiatives related to combatting hate speech and hate crime and in the design, delivery, monitoring and evaluation of victim support services • Raise awareness of the prevalence of ageism and how it may act as a driver for hate speech, violence, abuse and neglect and other forms of hate crime. This should be the key goal of an EU Age Equality Strategy, which would help address age discrimination systematically in all EU policies. • Ensure that the revision of the 2012 EU Directive on Victims’ Rights, as well as the EU Victims’ Rights Strategy 2020-2025, address the barriers older people experience to access justice, which include ageist attitudes in law enforcement and justice systems, as well as hate speech and pervasive societal ageism.
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Meeting with Astrid Dentler (Cabinet of Vice-President Dubravka Šuica)

23 Mar 2021 · - Green Paper on Ageing - International policies on ageing

Response to Green Paper on Ageing

14 Dec 2020

As the largest European platform representing older people, we welcome the opportunity to react to the roadmap on the Green Paper on Ageing and would like to reiterate how much we support and look forward to the release of the Green Paper. Seizing the momentum - The COVID-19 pandemic operates as a wake-up call, shedding light on issues that are not new in relation to ageing. - The Conclusions adopted by the Council of the European Union on 9 October 2020 on “Human Rights, Participation and Well-Being of Older Persons in the Era of Digitalisation” calls for clear actions. What do we expect from the Green Paper? - Change the narrative and reinforce the human rights-based approach; - Tackle socio-economic inequalities and discrimination across life; - Propose a comprehensive strategy to overcome the silos. AGE is very much committed to propose concrete actions and a way forward on how to address ageing issues at EU level. Together with our members, we are developing a strong and detailed contribution to the Green Paper based on our 20 years of experience to nourish the debate and make sure it will be followed by a White Paper giving clear and concrete policy options. The attached document gives additional detail and provide some questions to be included in the Green Paper as part of the consultation phase that it will open.
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Meeting with Nicolas Schmit (Commissioner) and

14 Dec 2020 · Meeting on the European Disability Strategy.

Response to Number & title of the variables statistics adult participation in learning (education and training domain)

12 Nov 2020

In the past, statistics about participation in adult learning have covered only people up to the age of 64. Given the changes in retirement ages, growing participation of persons in the labour market beyond age 65 (about 10% of people between 65-74) and, more importantly, the importance to keep up with social and technological developments, especially digitalisation, for social inclusion, the upper age cap in the statistics should be entirely abolished, and age ranges subdivided into 65-74, 75-84 and 85+ to be able to mirror the reality of the (lack of) adult learning opportunities in older age, and in particular for those no longer participating or excluded from the labour market.
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Response to Union of Equality: European Disability Rights Strategy

9 Nov 2020

AGE Platform Europe (AGE) is the largest European Union (EU) network of organisations of and for older persons. Funded by European Commission’s Directorate-General for Justice, we aim at voicing and promoting the rights and interests of the 190 million inhabitants aged 50+ in the EU. Through our membership we represent more than 40 million older persons across the EU. AGE welcomes the EC roadmap for the post-2020 European Disability Strategy. We particularly welcome the reference to the correlation between age and disability in the Roadmap. However, we regret that the intersection between old age and disability is not further reflected in the priorities and activities foreseen in the Roadmap. For example, the Roadmap fails to acknowledge that disability is a strong risk factor for abuse among older persons, and only refers to the risk of violence faced by women and children with disabilities. This illustrates that despite the high prevalence of disability among older persons, the challenges they face are poorly understood and often left unaddressed. Underpinning the exclusion of older persons with disabilities is the problem of insufficient age-disaggregated data on disability. Against this background, we suggest that the upcoming Disability Strategy should have a stronger focus on older persons with disabilities, by systematically addressing the intersection of ableism and ageism. As a cross-cutting obligation we believe that more data and evidence on older persons with disabilities is urgently needed. Older people’s organisations and older persons with disabilities themselves, must have a key role in improving the application of disability rights across the lifecourse. As recommended by the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, the mainstreaming of the rights of older persons with disabilities into all disability and ageing-related policies and programmes is key to ensure that the concerns and needs of older persons with disabilities are adequately addressed. The renewal of the Disability Strategy for the next decade, 2020-2030, is a unique opportunity to make it concrete. In our supporting document, we suggest how the EU can address the distinct challenges faced by older persons with disabilities in the frame of its 2020-2030 Disability Rights Strategy to ensure the equal treatment, full participation and inclusion of persons with disabilities of all ages, focusing on key areas: - Equality and non-discrimination - Health, care and support - Participation - Evidence and data collection
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Meeting with Astrid Dentler (Cabinet of Vice-President Dubravka Šuica)

3 Jul 2020 · Topics discussed Work of the Commission on demography Upcoming green paper on ageing Long-term care, in particular with regard to dignity, quality, affordability and access Links with the Action Plan on the European Pillar of Social Rights

Meeting with Valdis Dombrovskis (Executive Vice-President) and

28 May 2020 · COVID-19 relief measures

Meeting with Valdis Dombrovskis (Executive Vice-President) and

28 May 2020 · COVID-19 relief measures

Meeting with Ana Carla Pereira (Cabinet of Commissioner Nicolas Schmit)

29 Apr 2020 · long-term care (LTC) and how LTC systems are affected by the current COVID crisis

Meeting with Dubravka Šuica (Vice-President) and

29 Apr 2020 · Social Services in Europe, Statutory Duties of Public Social Services, Explanation, Impact & challenges of COVID-19, Elderly, Role of the EU, Rights of persons with disabilities, social dialogue & cross-sectoral social dialogue

Meeting with Stella Kyriakides (Commissioner) and SGI Europe and

29 Apr 2020 · VC meeting on the Impact of COVID-19 on Social Services and the risks for persons in vulnerable situations

Meeting with Nicolas Schmit (Commissioner) and

29 Apr 2020 · Videoconference meeting on social support care service and COVID-19

Meeting with Astrid Dentler (Cabinet of Vice-President Dubravka Šuica), Deša Srsen (Cabinet of Vice-President Dubravka Šuica)

20 Apr 2020 · - Report on the Impact of Demographic Change - Green Paper on Ageing - Long-term vision on rural areas - Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing

Response to Gender equality in the EU

10 Feb 2020

AGE welcomes the roadmap and the commitment of the new European Commission towards a fully-fledged Gender Equality Strategy. AGE reiterates its recommendations voiced during the 2019 consultation on a new gender strategy about taking the issues of older women into account in developing a strategy: • Tackle the gender pension gap of 37% not only by focussing on the barriers to labour market participation of today’s young women, but also on the adequacy of pension systems for women, the promotion of care credits in pensions and analysing the system of minimum pensions across the EU. Further promote the reconciliation of work and care for family members in need for care and assistance. • While women have a higher life expectancy than men, they spend about the same time of their lives in good health, according to the Healthy Life Years indicator. Therefore, a European Gender Equality Strategy should look specifically on unequal health outcomes for men and for women: analyse the equality of access to health systems and access to preventive health policies and health promotion. Develop a reflection on the specific health challenges of (older) women • Older women are providing the majority of informal care work – which itself represents 80% of long-term care work in the EU, according to OECD estimations. This not only has an effect on incomes and poverty over the life-cycle, but also severely impacts women’s risk of loneliness, mental and physical health issues. Alongside watching the implementation of the work-life balance directive, the European Gender Strategy should specifically aim to alleviate the burden of informal carers. • Collect more data on violence against older women. Very few studies exist about the prevalence of abuse, neglect and other forms of violence against women in older age; the little existing research suggest however very high prevalence rates. Gender-based violence, abuse and neglect can happen both in long-term care settings and outside of long-term care and an ambitious EU-wide study is necessary to shed more light on the phenomenon, its causes and policy pointers to tackle violence against women in old age. • Address and analyse the situation of older LGBTI. Gender equality is more than equality between women and men and older LGBTI face specific challenges linked to economic inequalities, the risk of harassment and gender-based violence in old age, access to health and long-term care. The Gender Equality Strategy should fully embrace LGBTI dimension of gender equality, including in old age. AGE feels that specifically these points are not sufficiently addressed in the roadmap and the initiatives it announces, and therefore insists that older women cannot wait for gender equality to be achieved for them. The points are further developed in AGE’s response to the 2019 Commission consultation mentioned above.
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Response to EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy 2020-2024

5 Feb 2020

The next EU Action Plan on Human Rights should include among its priorities an initiative to raise awareness of ageism and strengthen the protection of the human rights of older persons worldwide. The ongoing discussions at the UN Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing (OEWG), to which the EU and several member states are actively participating have surfaced several gaps in the equal application of universal norms in the context of older age. The EU should continue playing a key role in this process and to promote the principle of non-discrimination on the basis of age. Human rights challenges in older age must also be mainstreamed and adequately reflected in the rest of the priorities outlined in the roadmap, including but not limited to, prohibition of torture (to address the ill treatment and deprivation of liberty of older persons in institutions), the impact of emerging technologies and artificial intelligence (on this see our position and the report of the UN Independent Expert on the rights of older persons), as well as economic and social rights in older age (i.e. access to the labour market, health, social protection, education and lifelong learning, etc) AGE account of the proceedings of the 10th session of the UN Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing: 'Europe must do more at United Nations to promote the rights of older people: https://www.age-platform.eu/policy-work/news/europe-must-do-more-united-nations-promote-rights-older-people AGE position on the human rights implications of new technologies: https://www.age-platform.eu/policy-work/news/un-needs-address-human-rights-implications-new-technologies-age-replies-un Report of the UN Independent Expert on the rights of older persons on human rights and robotics: https://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/36/48
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Meeting with Lesia Radelicki (Cabinet of Commissioner Helena Dalli), Nora Bednarski (Cabinet of Commissioner Helena Dalli)

4 Feb 2020 · Age Platform's views on the challenges faced by an aging population, in particular aging women.

Response to European Partnership for innovative health

8 Aug 2019

In part A "Description of the problem the initiative aims to tackle", it is rightly mentioned that the EU has an ageing population and a rising burden of diseases. Yet we are missing a reference to preventive care. The European partnership on Innovative Health should cover the full spectrum of health care from preventive health and social care, cure, chronic disease management, specialized care, dementia care, palliative care and end-of-life care. A lot of savings could be achieved if Europe's population would be empowered to grow, live and age in better health through the promotion of supportive environments (tackling more efficiently environmentally and socially induced health disorders) and through a more rational and equitable use of health resources (tackling over-prescription and wrong prescription among the elderly. In part A under Basis for EU intervention (legal basis and subsidiarity check), we miss a reference to Art. 168 TFEU, and to Art. 35 of the EU Charter on Fundamental Rights which applies to any EU initiative. This would make sense in particular since under part C there is a section on impact on fundamental rights but no reference to the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, an instrument which is binding for all EU initiatives. In the description of the various options for the partnership in section B, we miss a reference to a broader co-production approach that is essential to any partnership and involves citizens’ groups (not just patients who are grouped according to specific pathologies). End-users, including in this case older persons who constitute the largest group of healthcare care users, should be mentioned among the groups to be involved in the future partnership to ensure relevance and acceptance of innovative health solutions by all European citizens/patients. In part C under “Likely social impacts”, it should be stressed that the Partnership would also help reduce health inequalities (an EU/UN objective) by ensuring a better match between health needs and access to care, supporting EU member states in their efforts toward the UN sustainable goal #3. We would welcome also under this section a reference to the partnership’s contribution to a more rational and equitable use of health resources across the EU.
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Meeting with Jocelyn Fajardo (Cabinet of Commissioner Violeta Bulc) and European Disability Forum

31 Jan 2019 · Transport matters

Response to Improving language learning in Europe

20 Mar 2018

The initiative by the Commission reminds member states of their committments under the 2002 Barcelona Council Conclusions and is timely and adequate - language learning needs to be put higher on the agenda in today's changeing and mobile labour markets, and are a precondition to the creation of a European cultural space. Future generations should be able to fully benefit from European integration and the world-wide opportunities offered by the mastery of world-wide languages of European origin. However, the upcoming initiative should not solely focus on learning in schools, as school dropouts remain an issue and as a large part of the European population did not have access to sufficient language training as a child. Therefore, AGE recommends an additional initiative that promotes language learning in a life-long learning perspective - equipping adults with additional foreign languages is just as crucial to maintain the values of cooperation and improving people's skills.
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Response to Council Recommendation on Common EU Values

5 Apr 2017

Full AGE feedback is annexed in PDF format Recommendations • Values promoted under the initiative should not only focus on intercultural exchanges, but also on intergenerational ones. The initiative should take due account that intolerance takes the form of racism and religious hatred, but also of sexism, ageism (both against young and old), rejection of persons with disabilities and other grounds. Education for social inclusion means to make all these issues a topic. • The role of non-formal and informal learning should be very prominent in the upcoming proposal for a Council recommendation, especially to overcome unequal access of older people to the digital world, which has an impact on digital autonomy and social inclusion. • Take due regard of the need of older citizens to learn and to be learners themselves, including in the promotion of common values. • Take into account the experience of older citizens and closely associate them and their organisations in the formal and non-formal learning of common EU values.
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Meeting with Sarah Nelen (Cabinet of First Vice-President Frans Timmermans) and Confederation of Family Organisations in the European Union and EUROPEAN NETWORK ON INDEPENDENT LIVING BRUSSELS

24 Mar 2017 · Work-Life Balance

Meeting with Stefaan Hermans (Cabinet of Commissioner Marianne Thyssen), Vasiliki Kokkori (Cabinet of Commissioner Marianne Thyssen)

25 Jun 2015 · Meeting to discuss the Commission’s agenda on active ageing, pensions and long-term health care

Meeting with Monika Ladmanova (Cabinet of Commissioner Věra Jourová)

5 Jun 2015 · EC Work Programme

Meeting with Věra Jourová (Commissioner) and Amnesty International Limited and

16 Feb 2015 · Equal Treatment Directive

Meeting with Frans Timmermans (First Vice-President) and Human Rights Watch and

15 Jan 2015 · Better regulation and European affairs in general

Meeting with Věra Jourová (Commissioner) and Human Rights Watch and

9 Jan 2015 · Roundtable with NGOs on fundamental rights and non-discrimination

Meeting with Frans Timmermans (First Vice-President) and Amnesty International Limited and

9 Jan 2015 · Roundtable with NGO's on fundamental rights