AGE is disappointed by the outcome of the Spring Summit on 19-20 March and, in particular, by the decision to cancel the Employment Summit and replace it with a simple meeting with the troïka. Furthermore, no real decision was taken to implement a regulatory system to supervise and control the financial institutions, although the Presidency Conclusions reiterated the policy mix for responding to the economic crisis already agreed on 1 March. AGE considers that the EU needs to act urgently to put a coordinated regulatory mechanism in place to monitor and control financial markets and relaunch employment. Trust needs to be rebuilt urgently and for that we need a new European system which will ensure that errors and mismanagement will stop now. Action at national level is not enough.
‘More concrete and decisive engagement is needed’ stressed Anne-Sophie, AGE Director, ‘to address these very real problems which are impacting on millions of people’s lives across the EU and, in particular, on societies’ most vulnerable groups such as older workers who will not have sufficient years left in employment to recuperate the losses suffered in their pension funds and retirement savings’.
AGE members regret the Council’s decision not to hold an Employment Summit in May. ‘This presents a lost opportunity for EU leaders to meet to discuss in depth the crucial issues which impinge directly on the EU’s labour markets and unemployment levels in today’s context of growing financial uncertainty’ reflected Anne-Sophie Parent. ‘This demonstrates that EU leaders are taking a hands-off approach to what is happening in our economies’, she added, ‘and that they are not in control of these developments’. AGE considers that collective action at EU and global level is the only way to address the crisis and to mitigate its negative short- and long-term consequences on everyone, not least older people.
The Spring Summit Conclusions are available here.
If you have any questions, please contact the AGE Secretariat (info@age-platform.org).
