Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-11-19-Speech-3-373"
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"en.20081119.23.3-373"2
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Madam President, I will try to adhere to your advice. Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the debate has been very fruitful and it is clear from the various interventions that there are multiple points to address if this demographic challenge is to be met.
Various courses of action can complement each other, as I shall describe later. To a certain extent, it is true that we must increase employment rates, and it is true that we will need immigration in order to solve this demographic deficit, and it is also important that immigration be controlled and organised. It is also true that we need family policies and support for the existing birth rate, and there is a requirement to care for elderly people and to improve the way in which they are treated. In this context, we must pay close attention to the development of education infrastructure, child care and the alleviation of dependency in the elderly.
As several speakers have said, we must consider our strengths, in particular, new information technologies and research and development, with all the flexibility available in medical and health care services, and all that can be done to assist with prenatal diagnosis, early years assistance and community child care. There are therefore several challenges, but we already have the resources to tackle this demographic deficit.
We must be ready to monitor the consequences of demographic change, as was emphasised in the debate. We need to oversee the viability of our social security and pension systems, which are one of the characteristic features of the European solidarity model. We must take long-term measures, despite the economic and financial crisis that we are experiencing at the moment, in order to ensure that these systems are viable, and we must also consider the future effects of this demographic change on various aspects of labour organisation. Mr Cappato used a specific example to illustrate this point, and he is right to do so.
In conclusion, I believe that the Commission, as Commissioner Potočnik will undoubtedly say, Parliament and Council must continue to engage in dialogue in the same spirit that pervaded the debate today. Europe undoubtedly faces a long-term challenge, and we must anticipate, organise ourselves and not allow the economic and financial crisis to prevent us from taking action and initiating reform."@en1
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