Commission’s InvestEU proposal – Joint letter from the social sector

Investing in quality, innovative and sustainable social infrastructure – Joint letter from the social sector on the European Commission’s InvestEU proposal

In view of influencing the objectives of post 2020 EU investments, AGE Platform Europe together with other actors representing the social services, health, education and social housing sectors addressed to the European Commission a letter calling to unlock investment into innovative, sustainable and quality social infrastructure projects. The call responds to the European Commission’s proposal from last June to launch a new fund, called InvestEU, for the period 2021-2027 (read the Commission’s press release here). The fund aims at mobilising €650 billion to finance sustainable infrastructure and is the continuation of the Juncker Plan’s European Fund for Strategic Investments.

While welcoming the general orientation of the InvestEU fund, the cosignatories of the letter pledge for additional changes for the fund in order to enable lasting innovation in the social, health, education and housing and ageing sectors in line with the European Pillar of Social Rights, the Sustainable Development Goals and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

We urged in particular the European Commission to ensure that the money which public authorities will spend across the EU addresses the needs of the people they serve. This should help both to increase public satisfaction and reduce costs. Considering the growing needs for quality infrastructure in the fields of social care and support, social housing, health or education, it is only through consistent public investment that Europe can guarantee the affordability, availability, adaptability, accessibility and quality of services for its citizens including older persons. Moreover it will be also important to explore and identify new ways to spread out the risk of such public investment through other long-term investment mechanisms; yet without undermining the aforementioned requirements.

For more details please see the full version of the letter or contact Maciej Kucharczyk, maciej.kucharczyk@age-platform.eu