AGE has joined 16 European organisations in calling on EU policy makers to enhance the implementation of the right to long-term care – enshrined in the European Pillar of Social Rights – under the next 2024-2029 legislature. This should start with the creation of a European Long-Term Care Platform to enhance the formal dialogue with civil society and social partners and improve the monitoring of investments in long-term care.
The Platform would gather national coordinators on long-term care, national and EU-level civil society organisations representing and supporting persons in need of care and their families, service providers, and social partners. The creation of such a platform is an essential first step to coordinate the urgent measures needed to address underinvestment, inadequate social protection, lack of person-centredness and staff shortages in long-term care. In line with the call by the High-Level Group on the Future of Social Protection, long-term care must also be supported by economic policies which prioritise care expenditure not as a cost, but as an investment to ensure sustainability of Europe’s economy.
Coordinated by COFACE-Families Europe, our joint statement came ahead of two important events: the high-level event of the Belgian presidency of the EU on the European Pillar of Social Rights in La Hulpe on 15 and 16th April 2024, and the in June upcoming European elections.
