EU Policy development
At their Council meeting on 9th March 2015, employment, social and health ministers approved a number of conclusions on the European Semester 2015 with respect to the modernisation of social protection systems, and on making labour markets more inclusive.
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A hearing on the situation of fundamental rights in the EU took place on Monday 30th March in the European Parliament, focusing on topical issues like migration in the Mediterranean and the economic crisis. The objective of the hearing was to contribute to the on-going dialogue on the mechanisms and methods to better safeguard the fundamental rights of citizens in the European Union and in particular to discuss the impact of austerity on fundamental rights, as the LIBE Committee commissioned a report on this subject.
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 Using the right tool to adequately monitor the impact of a wide range of policies is necessary to manage population ageing. This is the purpose of the Active Ageing Index (AAI) which measures the extent to which older people can realise their full potential in terms of employment, participation in social and cultural life and independent living, as well as the extent to which the environment they live in enables seniors to lead an active life.
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Launched during the European Summit on Innovation for Active and Healthy Ageing in March 2015, the background document ‘Growing the Silver Economy’, drafted jointly by different Directorates-General within the European Commission, is a first attempt to present what the Silver Economy has to offer in a rapidly ageing Europe and what the European Union is already doing to support it.
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Other EU institutions and international institutions
 The European Economic and Social Committee has just published a European Passport to Active Citizenship aimed to support active citizenship and participatory democracy in Europe. It explains in practice how you can make your voice heard at EU level in informing you on appropriate timing (when you should become active), teams (whom you should join forces with) and tools (which available participatory instrument you should use).
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Special Briefing
Fostering intergenerational solidarity and cooperation through age-friendly environments: the right answer to Europe’s demographic challenge
This year again, a large number of initiatives have been carried out across Europe to support intergenerational interaction and cooperation. As every year since 2009, the 29th April has been the opportunity for AGE and our members to remind decision-makers and the wider public of the importance of fostering exchange and solidarity between generations to address demographic ageing and a number of current societal challenges.
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AGE news
 AGE Platform Europe will participate in the Speakers’ Corner at the eHealth Week in Riga on 11 May 2015. During this event, AGE Secretary General Anne-Sophie Parent will present the HAIVISIO project and explain what kind of communications support it can offer to eHealth projects.
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 This event aims to introduce the results of the WeDO2 project, a European learning partnership of 8 organisations coming from 7 different countries (Austria, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Poland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom), and AGE Platform Europe.
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On the occasion of the 10th World Elder Abuse Awareness Day on 15 June 2015, AGE is co-organizing a two day event to take stock of European and international action to tackle elder abuse and better protect and promote the rights of older people.
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 Boosting growth and job creation in the EU through the development of Europe’s digital economy is one of the main priorities of the 2014-2019 European Commission. To achieve this, the Commission is preparing an ambitious Digital Single Market strategy (DSM) aimed to remove the existing obstacles to that development. The three main areas of action for this strategy were unveiled in a press release in March 2015.
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 The EU-funded project INNOVAGE has recently published a report aimed at facilitating the involvement of older users in the social innovation process. The “Guidelines on involving older people in social innovation development“ have been developed by AGE Platform Europe on the basis of literature findings and of the experience of working with older people gained in the framework of INNOVAGE and other European research projects.
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 Ahead of a European Parliament’s public hearing on the situation of fundamental rights in the European Union on 30 March, a coalition of social NGOs, including AGE Platform Europe, issued a joint press statement taking stock of the situation, highlighting gaps and making proposals for next steps to ensure respect of fundamental rights in the EU.
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Members’ news
 AGE Catalonian organisation FATEC is cooperating with the CNJC (National Youth Council of Catalonia) and the CJB (Youth Council of Barcelona) on different projects such as the volunteer law, the future of pensions, Code of Ethics, in order to promote more solidarity, understanding, coexistence and participation across the different generations.
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The Local Council of Seniors of the City of Mechelen (Belgium) is organizing and supporting a number of local intergenerational activities to mark the European Day of Solidarity between Generations:
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 On 21 April 2015, Age UK published a video to promote older people’s human rights and raise awareness of elder abuse or neglect in care homes.
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 L’association ACLAP (France) organise le mercredi 29 avril, à l’occasion de la Journée Européenne de la Solidarité entre les générations, une matinée de rencontre et de réflexion sur la thématique intergenerationnelle, à Marseille, France.
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 L’association OLD’UP, membre français de AGE, organise un colloque intitulé «Comment l’Esprit vient aux vieux» le 10 octobre 2015 Paris. Le Bulletin d’inscription et le programme détaillé seront disponibles mi-mai sur leur site web.
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Other news
European Semester
 The Social Platform, of which AGE is a member organisation, has addressed a letter to Commisison Vice-President Kyrki Katainen to inquire about the future of the Europe 2020 Strategy. The Social Platform raises its concern that the Europe 2020 Strategy will only be reviewed by the Commission after finding ways of bringing it in line with the Commission’s proposed investment plan. The Social Platform considers that this should be the other way round.
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Human Rights
 During the 1st European Theatre and Science Festival – The Art of Ageing that took place in Romania (Timisoara) on 16-19 April 2015, five multilingual theatre performances, based on investigative artistic research and collaborative theatre-making in Europe, were staged to raise awareness of ageing topics in a European context. The event marks the end of the two-year creative theatre research project ‘The Art of Ageing’ by the European Theatre Convention (ETC) which also launched on that occasion its creative research publication ‘Bringing the burning issue of demographic change to Europe’s stages‘ providing in-depth information on all Art of Ageing theatre collaborations, with contributions of field experts, academics and scientists.
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Fight against poverty and social exclusion
 The European Reference Budgets Network project is a pilot project, funded by the European Commission and initiated by the European Parliament, running from January 2014 till June 2015. It aims to develop a common methodology, as well as, reference budgets for three household types (single, one adult with two children, and two adults and two children) in the capital regions of 28 Member States. Reference Budgets are defined as priced baskets of goods and services that represent adequate standards of living.
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Healthy Ageing
 The 15th International Conference for Integrated Care “Complex Needs, Integrated Solutions: Engaging, empowering and enabling people for active and healthy living” took place in Edinburgh, Scotland from 25-27 March 2015. The aim of this conference was to exchange knowledge, experience and new ideas in the design and delivery of integrated health and social care.
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Good practices
 The programme “Experiences for Life” run by the Spanish organisation SEPAD – a service created by the Government of Extremadura to prevent and address dependency – aims to facilitate ‘intergenerational therapy’ exchanges between young students and older residents in care centers, with a focus on residents suffering from dementia, especially Alzheimer’s.
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 For a several years, the Club Magic Extremadura in Spain has been running the “healthy Chess” programme, in six major centers of Extremadura, in cooperation with the Extremadura Promotion Service Autonomy and Dependency Care EPAD. Chess playing sessions tailored to seniors are organised on a weekly basis, together with exhibitions and intergenerational chess matches between older and younger people, including young people at risk of social exclusion.
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 The French association Vittacolo organizes thematic camps for children and young people. Among the different holiday options proposed by the organisation, intergenerational summer camps welcome children and their grand-parents, enabling both generations to have fun together and strengthen their links. A large variety of intergenerational activities are offered: cooking, playing, building log cabins, performing, etc.
Read more in French: http://www.vitacolo.fr/les-colos-intergenerationnelles.html#
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 Inspired by the US and UK ‘Yarn Bombing‘ movement (or the art of enhancing a public place or object with graffiti knitting – “Tricot Urbain” in French), intergenerational city knitting initiatives were organised throughout Belgium during the winter 2014-2015.
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 ‘The Age of No Retirement?’ – ‘A national debate about the opportunities in a society where we live longer’ – is a collaborative movement for age-positive social change in the United Kingdom, which was launched in London in October 2013. It brings together employers, policy makers, innovators, designers, academics and citizens of all ages willing to create a society without age barriers, where skills, capabilities, knowledge and wisdom are valued whatever your age.
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 Officilally launched in September 2014, ‘My healthy family‘ is an EU Project, which seeks to promote the consumption of fruit and vegetables among children, older people and pregnant women in Hungary and Poland. The idea is to get people and family members to truly enjoy the tastes, textures and colours of fresh fruit and vegetables.
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Upcoming Conferences
Publications
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The European Economic and Social Committee European Passport to Active Citizenship is aimed to support active citizenship and participatory democracy in Europe. It explains in practice how you can make your voice heard at EU level in informing you on appropriate timing (when you should become active), teams (whom you should join forces with) and tools (which available participatory instrument you should use).
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This report compiles the work of the Active Ageing Index project. It arises from the work undertaken during the 2012 European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations by the European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research in Vienna.
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September 2014, the European Parliament’s Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research Services has published a