Age-Friendly Environments (AFE-INNOVNET)

By the end of January 2016, the network supporting European towns and regions to face demographic change, AFE-INNOVNET, will stop receiving EU funding.

The lack of EU financial support will hamper AFE-INNOVNET’s initiative to develop the newly established Covenant on Demographic Change, which will gather and serve as platform for exchange to towns, regions and other public governments aiming to adapt their territories to an unquestionable reality today: Europe's ageing population.

Worried about this situation, MEPs from the Parliamentary Intergroup on Active ageing, Eduard Kukan, Alojz Peterle, Lambert Van Nistelrooij, Ivo Vajgl, Claude Moraes and Heinz K. Becker addressed the following question to the European Commission: “How will the Commission support the Covenant (on Demographic Change) after it is launched now that the AFE-INNOVNET Thematic Network will stop receiving EU funding end of January?”  

According to Eurostat, the number of people over 65 will represent 29,5% of the total population by 2060. This figure might even reach 12% of the European population among citizens over 80.

In this context, it is crucial to support municipalities to adapt their communities to the specific needs of an ageing population - in domains like housing, transport or new technologies - and to ensure that citizens remain healthy, independent and autonomous longer into their old age. The new Covenant will undoubtedly help European cities and regions to reach such objectives.

The Commission is due to answer the question within a month. CEMR will keep an eye on the outcome of the question.