Ádám Karácsony, Councillor of Tahitótfalu held a meeting with Dubravka Šuica, European Commission Vice-President for Democracy and Demography to further discuss the opinion on 'Demographic change: proposals on measuring and tackling its negative effects in the EU regions' for which he served as the Rapporteur on behalf of the European Committee of the Regions.
Šuica welcomed the Opinion adopted by the European Committee of the Regions in the October plenary session and thanked Karácsony for strongly endorsing the European Commission's Report on the impact of demographic change which presents the main drivers of demographic change and the impact they are having across Europe.
In his remarks Karácsony said that demographic change was a complex issue and emphasised the need to address Europe's aging population, the low fertility rate, the phenomenon of brain drain as well as implementing work-life balance. Karácsony reiterated that migration was not the only solution to address demographic challenges.
He recalled how the opinion proposed the establishment of a European day of families to show the importance of supporting families. The rapporteur informed Vice-President Šuica that the European Committee of the Regions was in the process of establishing an interregional group to discuss the effects of demographic change and propose solutions. He said that the aim of the interregional group was to directly support the European Commission in its work.
Vice-President Šuica welcomed developments made on the Multi-Annual Financial Framework and the Next Generation EU. Referring to the opinion of Karácsony, Šuica said that measures were being taken to ensure that funding will be available to address demographic change. She added that the aim of the Commission was to mainstream demography across all key policies. She referred to initiatives being taken together with the Joint Research Centre (JRC) to map the demographic landscape across Europe.
Karácsony and Šuica also discussed the Conference on the Future of Europe. The Vice-President said that citizens' participation was key for the European Commission and that demography was expected to be one of the topics discussed along with other key aspects such as health. She added that the European Committee of the Regions will be a key partner for the conference.
Speaking on the long term vision for rural areas, Karácsony outlined that on several occasions, discussions on rural areas revolve solely around agriculture. He said that rural areas had to be supported to further invest in digitalisation to ensure that professionals can also work from these regions and to make them attractive for young people. In his concluding remarks Karácsony said that citizens expect tangibles results and that the European Committee of the Regions can help to close the gap between citizens and the EU.