Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-02-20-Speech-3-405"
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"en.20080220.17.3-405"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, thank you very much for attending this very interesting debate. I would also like to thank Mrs Castex for producing this report and for enabling us to go deeper in a discussion that is helping us a great deal.
In a country such as mine – Spain – which is going through a demographic crisis that, if possible, is more serious than the average in the European Union, this type of communication from the Commission and this type of debate are very helpful, because this is a deep-rooted, structural problem rather than a short-term situation, and these things take the problem out of the national political debate and make it much broader, with greater capacity for analysis and response.
Indeed, as the Commissioner said, we are facing a problem, but we also have an opportunity. The opportunity should materialise through tackling this problem, not only in its effects – that there are more elderly people in Europe, that Europe is ageing – but also in its causes.
We need to prevent Europe from ageing, because we are not going to avoid having more elderly people: science and medicine have brought us to this point and progress will continue to be made. The problem, as other Members have said, is that we need birth policies, demographic policies and we need children in Europe, that is what we need. We need to work in all areas, but with the understanding that it is a serious and fine problem that we are going to pass on to future generations if we do not lay the foundations for solving it now.
I am among those who believe that Europe’s social model is not the problem, but on the contrary it could be the solution.
The ageing of Europe and the low birth rate in Europe would be even more serious without our social system. Other societies such as, for example, China, where they are going to experience something very similar, are going to pay even more dearly than us for the lack of efficient, intelligent and rational social models.
Because, in short, the problem is going to be that change is inevitable and we are going to have to change. Our social system can change its techniques without changing its values. I think that the fundamental issues are solidarity, reconciling family and work life (to give fresh opportunities for families to produce new generations) welcoming immigrants, not as a burden, not as something that is negative for our societies, but as a phenomenon which, if we are able to integrate it, is once again going to help us to tackle this problem. Finally, there needs to be a major discussion about the role of women in our society, a discussion that needs to be conducted, as always, in the light of solidarity."@en1
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