Germany, Stralsund, 31 May 2012 – The heads of government of the Council of Baltic Sea States believe that the biggest challenge for countries in connection with demographic trends is to make working conditions more favourable for the elderly to motivate them to continue to participate on the job market. The conclusions of the meeting state the importance of continued education for the elderly and adjustments to be made to the social security system.
As it is for Estonia, the ageing of the population is a key issue for other European countries. The preliminary results of the Estonian census just released also corroborate that the share of older people in Estonia’s population has risen since 2000. Prime Minister Andrus Ansip expressed satisfaction that the employment rate among older people in Estonia is high. “Estonia is in some sense unique, as working pensioners do not receive a smaller pension. This has provided an incentive for our older population to continue working,” said Ansip. While in Estonia 57 percent of older people (55-64-year-olds) are employed, the average figure in Europe is 47. Last year, 16.2 percent of pension-age people were employed.
Professor James Vaupel said in his presentation delivered at the meeting that the flexibility of the job market was very important in motivating older people to work. He said it was natural that people remained active longer on the labour market, as the average life expectancy and competitiveness of older people had both risen. “A few decades from now, 80-year-olds will be just as healthy as today’s 70 year-olds,” said Vaupel.
Ansip said the preliminary census figures confirmed that Estonia had to continue to support the older population so that they would want to work longer. “Active elderly are very welcome on the job market,” said Ansip, who said a focus should be placed on retraining as well. A separate program has been launched in Estonia for older people to offer them individual work-related consultation and training. “It is very important for us that older people remain active,” said Ansip. Ansip said the best corrective for the ageing trend was a higher birth rate.
“Increasing the birth rate is one of the top priorities for the Estonian government,\" said Ansip. Just ten years ago, Estonia was among the last in the European Union in terms of birth rate, but today we are up there with the leaders. “The parental benefits system has produced good results in Estonia,” said Ansip.
The heads of government also discussed the topic of energy security in the Baltic Sea region. The representatives said they considered development of integrated energy systems and a common market to be important. At a dinner yesterday, the prime ministers of the Baltic Sea States discussed how to make the Baltic Sea region more competitive. Ansip mentioned the importance of the internal market and trade by sea routes. “E-customs and e- declarations could become a reality,” Ansip said, adding that the potential for economic growth in the region was great if digital single market were implemented.
As Germany currently holds the presidency of the Council of Baltic Sea States, Chancellor Angela Merkel chaired the meeting. At the meeting, the Estonian prime minister was joined by Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen, Sweden’s Frederik Reinfeldt, Norway’s Jens Stoltenberg, Latvia’s Valdis Dombrovskis, Lithuania’s Andrius Kubilius, Poland’s Donald Tusk, Iceland’s Johanna Sigurdardottir and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Šuvalov and European Commission President Manuel Barroso.
The next president of the Council of Baltic Sea States is Russia, while Estonia will hold the presidency from summer 2014 to summer 2015.
From Germany, Ansip will travel on to Bucharest where a summit of friends of European Cohesion Policy will take place tomorrow. Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain will take part in the meeting. The European Commission President will also take part.
Photos of the meeting are available at http://valitsus.ee/et/uudised/pildialbum#1932-1