DEMOGRAPHIC FUTURE OF EUROPE (14114/06)
Letter from the Chairman to James Plaskitt
MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work
and Pensions
Thank you for your Explanatory Memorandum submitted
on 3 November. This was considered by the Sub-Committee on 30
November.
We recognise the significance of the challenges
posed by the ageing of the EU population and the framework for
policies designed to address these challenges which is set out
in the Commission document.
While we recognise and support many of the policy
directions advocated in the Commission's Communication, we are
concerned that the concept of encouraging families to have more
children should not become part of an accepted response to the
problems posed by an ageing population structure. In this context,
we encourage the Government to maintain the position—set
out in your Explanatory Memorandum—that its policies do
not directly aim to increase fertility rates.
We feel that the two yearly meetings of the
European Demographic Forum will be an appropriate way of sharing
the experiences of Member States in tackling these issues and,
on that basis, we are content to release the document from scrutiny.
We are very conscious that an understanding
of the future evolution of the population demography of Europe
is most important for the consideration of many of the issues
that we consider in the domain of EU Social Policy. Members of
EU Sub-Committee G (Social Policy and Consumer Affairs) would
therefore be most grateful to receive for information copies of
key documents to be considered by the European Demographic Forum.
Please could you arrange for these to be sent for distribution
to Members to the Sub-Committee's Clark—Barry Werner.
6 December 2006
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