Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-02-11-Speech-2-241"
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"en.20030211.10.2-241"2
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".
Meeting the demographic challenge is one of the main problems facing the countries of Europe. Naturally, any demographic policy has to be a combination of individual policies and economic and social incentives, most of which come under the Member States and their jurisdiction.
I should like to comment on European added value in this sector, given that the demographic problem is a problem which besets each individual country and Europe as a whole, where the population is both ageing and falling in numbers.
There are two parts to this problem. First, the population is ageing and has a longer life expectancy; that people are living longer is a good thing and is due to better living conditions and medical care, but it calls for special policies to manage this ageing population. In this sector, the sector of the ageing population, the European Union has important policies on public spending and on how to improve public spending and link it to health care, pensions and, of course, employment policies. I would remind you here that the open method of coordination on employment, on poverty and exclusion programmes and on pensions is geared towards older workers; this is one of its basic lines of approach.
The second set of policies is designed to reinforce the family so that people can have more children, given that numerous countries have a very low birth rate. It includes legislation, especially legislation to support parents with young children and basically help them reconcile working and family life, policies on gender equality and women’s access to the job market – remember families often have serious financial problems – and of course social policies, especially social infrastructures.
Social infrastructures are the responsibility of the Member States, but I would remind you that, first, they receive a great deal of funding under the Community Support Framework in connection with employment and, secondly, the first specific targets were set in Barcelona a year ago, when all the Member States undertook to provide 95% of children between the age of 3 and 6 with a place in a state or private nursery by 2010. This will do a great deal to help families."@en1
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