28 March 2012. PenzaNews. EU member states should reconsider their attitude towards demographic problems connected with the increased number of pensioners to prevent the welfare, health and financial systems from collapsing. This is the opinion expressed by Annika Ahtonen, a policy analyst in the Europe’s Political Economy Program of the European Policy Centre.

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“Eurostat predicts that the number of over 65 year olds in the EU’s 27 member states will increase from 17% in 2010 to around 30% by 2060. Moreover, the proportion of working age people will decline while the relative number of retired people continues to increase. The European Commission estimates that by 2060, age-related expenditure, for example on health care and pensions, will increase to nearly 30% of GDP in the EU 27,” she noted.

According to the analyst, the demographic problem should not be postponed because this will not transform overstretched public budgets into sustainable sources of funding for ageing societies.

“EU member states must commit themselves to address this shared challenge. In responding to demographic change, more attention must be paid to the structure of the health and care sectors, social services, labor markets, financial systems and education, as well as to the integration of migrants. Healthy and active ageing should be promoted as a key part of the solution. In taking the necessary action, the EU and its member states must tackle the issue at the heart of the challenge: offering older people adequate social protection while ensuring that the tax and social contributions burden does not become unsustainable for the working population,” explained Annika Ahtonen.

In her opinion, meeting these enormous societal and economic challenges requires common vision and action across society. It requires every key sector and actor to unite behind a common goal.

“Promoting health, using innovative products, services and processes, and providing people with incentives to continue working can all contribute to healthy and active ageing, but they will only have the desired impact if implemented together,” the analyst declared.

According to her words, Policymakers at EU and national level are slowly realizing that older people represent a huge potential market and an enormous opportunity for Europe. They are creating demand for new services and products, ranging from personalized care to age-friendly technologies and other solutions that enable them to maintain healthy, independent lives.

“If increased life expectancy is coupled with healthy ageing, and older people can continue to enjoy life to the full and contribute to the labor market and society, this will reduce pressure on health and social services, and therefore on public budgets,” the member of the European Policy Centre said.

She also stressed the fact that the EU has launched various initiatives that support active and healthy ageing.

“Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (the Partnership) which was officially launched by the EU in 2011, aims to improve the health of the EU’s older citizens. Its overarching objective is to increase the number of Healthy Life Years (HLY) — an indicator used to estimate how many years a person can expect to live without illness or disability — by two years before 2020,” the analyst noted.

She explained that the Partnership’s Strategic Implementation Plan, adopted by a Steering Committee in November 2011, embraces a three-stage approach to ageing: prevention, screening and early diagnosis of potential problems; care and cure, and; adopting active and healthy lifestyles. Encouragingly, the Partnership brought together a diverse group of stakeholders to agree on a set of actions. Unfortunately, the proposals fall short of providing a comprehensive response to the challenge.

“Health promotion and disease prevention are not properly addressed by the Partnership. Improving adherence to long term therapy, advising patients on the use of medication, preventing falls via innovative monitoring solutions, and using diagnostic tools to identify pre-frailty conditions can undoubtedly play a role, but if the EU is serious about increasing HLYs, it should focus on cost-effective measures with the greatest impact on people’s health. Promoting dietary changes, more exercise or quitting smoking can, in a short time, substantially reduce illnesses and lead to healthier living. Promoting innovative ways of influencing people’s behavior and lifestyles at all ages is also a great economic opportunity,” the member of the European Policy Centre said.

She added that the Commission Communication “Taking forward the Strategic Implementation Plan of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing” published in February 2012 sets out proposals for further action.

“The document invites stakeholders to commit to specific actions and aims to establish a marketplace for innovative ideas. It addresses regulatory and standardization issues, and aims to align relevant funding mechanisms. Hopefully, as the Partnership develops, the focus on innovation will extend beyond technological solutions. Although they can play an important role in promoting healthy and active ageing, they are not the only drivers for making Europeans healthier,” Annika Ahtonen stated.

According to her words, one of the five headline targets under the Europe 2020 Strategy that member states have agreed to implement is to increase the employment rate of 20–64 year-olds to 75% by 2020.

“To achieve this, member states must translate the EU target into national targets and action plans. Member states have rightly started to reflect on how pension schemes can support this transition and what more can be done to encourage second careers. However, widespread opposition to increasing the retirement age indicates that communication on the required changes has only just started,” the expert noted.

At the same time, in her opinion, the Commission White Paper “An Agenda for Adequate, Safe and Sustainable Pensions”, which was published in February 2012, is an important step in this direction.

“Stressing that pension reform is urgently required it calls for a more realistic balance to be struck between time spent at work and in retirement, as well as incentives for people to stay in the labor market for longer. It includes a long list of EU initiatives to support national efforts. One of these, the 2012 European Year on Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations, aims to raise awareness of active ageing. For the campaign to go beyond awareness raising, member states, employers, social partners and citizens must commit themselves to specific actions,” Annika Ahtonen declared.

She also said that the EU’s ability to influence national health and employment policies is limited and often merely provides a forum for sharing best practices. However, the economic crisis has reinforced the importance of co-operation and learning from others.

“Indeed, as the crisis strengthens economic governance in the EU, it gives Brussels a stronger voice in areas that have traditionally been considered a national competence. An example of this transition is the European Semester, which reviews and helps to coordinate member states’ macro-economic, budgetary and structural reform policies,” the analyst said.

Annika Ahtonen mentioned the possibility of attracting different people to the problem solving.

“To complement the Health for Growth Program, EU instruments for research and innovation, cohesion funds, the Common Agricultural Policy, educational support and programs on employment, social policy and inclusion could help make healthy and active ageing a project for all,” she emphasized.

Nevertheless, according to her words, creating a European society that promotes healthy and active ageing demands certain actions. For instance, employment and social participation are key contributors to well-being and healthy active ageing and the EU should ensure that its policies support this link.

“The EU must harness the tools at its disposal to promote health. It must use legislative tools such as advertising restrictions on unhealthy products, regulating salt and fat content, and food labelling laws. Health systems are a national competence, but the European Semester can help to transform health systems and offer guidance on integrating prevention and health promotion into health services,” the expert reported.

Annika Ahtonen considers creating age-friendly environments for the elderly very important.

“More must be done to adapt workplaces to the needs of older people, who are more likely to suffer from disabilities and chronic diseases, and to offer people incentives to remain in work for longer. The EU’s social policy competence in promoting health and safety at work could be used to improve workplace conditions in a manner that supports active ageing and the needs of older workers,” the analyst noted.

Moreover, Annika Ahtonen reported that today the average employment rate in the EU 27 is 68.6% (46% for 55–64 year olds). The average age at which Europeans exit the labor market is 61. As the number of people of working age decreases, it is estimated that by 2050 the labor gap could be 35 million.

“If Europe wishes to maintain its current level of welfare something has to be done. To increase the labor market participation rate to 75% by 2020, increasing HLYs and promoting age-friendly environments must be combined with other actions. The EU must build an integrated labor market, in which people can live, work and provide services across borders. Raising the retirement age and boosting the labor participation rate are national competences, but the EU must continue to promote discussion and share best practices, also from outside the EU,” she declared.

Moreover, the analyst stressed the necessity of creating a European market for health-related products and services.

“New and existing products and services, from medicines to technologies, can support active and healthy ageing. However, their deployment continues to be hindered by a number of barriers. The EU needs a single market for health. The Directive on Patient’s Rights for cross-border healthcare, a Commission proposal on “European Standardization” and EU efforts to boost the interoperability of eHealth systems are steps in the right direction. But the EU should also urge governments to exchange information on public procurement processes and reimbursement requirements for medical technologies, and encourage transparent and efficient Health Technology Assessments,” Annika Ahtonen said.

Nevertheless, according to her words, none of the actions suggested above will be successful without the buy-in and involvement of citizens.

“All EU citizens must be involved in the transition. They need to understand that the old system is no longer sustainable. Europeans must work longer. They must take more responsibility for their own health,” the expert said and added that costeffectiveness of policies and actions must be also measured.

“Public money spent on health care, health promotion and pensions must work in the best interests of society. The EU has a number of instruments to promote active and healthy ageing, but the greatest would be to harness its new economic governance framework, the European Semester, to examine member states’ social and health systems and labor markets, take note of inefficiencies and challenges, and suggest actions that would boost their sustainability and promote longer working lives. And Europe must act now,” the analyst concluded.