Labour Minister Marjeta Cotman said prior to the launch of a two-day conference on intergenerational solidarity in Brdo pri Kranju on Monday that society could successfully develop in the long run only with close mutual connections and cooperation of all generations.
Cotman told the press that the aim of the conference was to continue and expand the discussion on challenges brought by demographic changes. According to her, these changes make the issue of coexistence and solidarity among generations one of the key issues for the future of Europe.
While society used to consist of different generations which cooperated and complemented each other, today's way of life and work, primarily in urban areas, severs the connections and weakens intergenerational ties, said Cotman.
The conference is also aimed at finding causes for demographic changes and defining the characteristics of new relations among generations. It will present examples of best practices from this area as well as possible causes for disputes among generations, said the minister.
The discussion on those issues was launched by the European Commission by the publication in 2005 of the green paper entitled "Confronting demographic change: a new solidarity between the generations" and the adoption the year after of a report on how to change demographic challenges into opportunities.
According to European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities Vladimir Spidla, demographic changes are an opportunity for strengthening intergenerational solidarity. He also believes that investing in young people should not come to the detriment of older people.
The second day of the conference will be dedicated to long-term care. According to Cotman, EU member states opted for very different ways for solving the issue of long-term care, but are committed to the access to general, affordable, financially sustainable and quality long-term care.
The Slovenian EU presidency is to present at the conference two initiatives in line with which 2012 should be dedicated to active ageing and intergenerational solidarity, while April 28 and 29 should be declared European days of intergenerational solidarity.
The conference "Intergenerational Solidarity for Cohesive and Sustainable Societies", organised by the Labour Ministry in cooperation with the European Commission and NGOs, is expected to be attended by 250 participants from EU member states and candidate countries.
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