EU-voorzitter Spanje stelt voor om 2012 te dopen tot "Het Europees jaar van actief ouder worden en solidariteit tussen generaties" (en)

Met dank overgenomen van Spaans voorzitterschap Europese Unie 1e helft 2010 i, gepubliceerd op donderdag 29 april 2010.

Spain's Health and Social Policy Minister, Trinidad Jiménez, proposed that 2012 should be declared the "European Year of Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations" to ensure that older people age "in an active and healthy way".

Trinidad Jiménez and the president of the province of La Rioja, Pedro Sanz, and the mayor of Logroño, Tomás Santos, launched the European conference on "Active and Healthy Ageing" on Thursday, coinciding with events marking the EU Day of Solidarity between Generations.

The minister pointed out that the changes that had occurred in European society favoured an increase in life expectancies that “brings important challenges”.

For the first time in Spain, "people over 65 years of age - about 18 per cent of the population - outnumber those aged less than 14 years" and it is calculated that by 2060 in Europe "there will be no more than two active citizens for every retiree, or half the present number", she continued.

"Extending life expectancy is an achievement", Jiménez stressed, but "one must develop measures" in response to changes, and ensure older people "can live in better conditions".

Examples of social and health coordination measures she cited as necessary included Spanish "social tourism programmes" managed through the Spanish institute for the elderly and social services (IMSERSO), which is celebrating its 25th anniversary.

In the 2009-2010 season now coming to an end, 1,450,000 people have taken part in these programmes, in which the Spanish government has invested 169 million euros.

The main objective in these programmes is to provide the elderly with the possibility of taking staggered holidays, and in the case of Social Spa Baths programmes, to facilitate their access to treatment at spa resorts at a reduced cost and with medical prescription. This will also help maintain jobs in the tourist sector in the low season.

The Logroño conference in which more than 300 people are taking part over two days, aims to promote prevention plans for illnesses and to help develop intergenerational relations and solidarity.