In the EP legislature 2019-2024, the Interest Group on Solidarity between Generations, chaired by Milan Brglez and Jaroslaw Duda, ensured that older persons were part of the considerations of policymakers and that the principle of solidarity between generations was not forgotten, especially during the COVID and energy crises.

Some of its achievements:

• Upholding of older persons’ rights during the COVID-19 pandemic and prioritising older persons in the EU’s recommendations for vaccination strategies
• Release of the Green Paper on Ageing by the European Commission
• Establishing the first EU Care Strategy, combining ambitious targets for childcare with a rights-based approach to long-term care
• Marking important dates, such as the EU Day of Solidarity between Generations (29 April) and the International Day for Older Persons (1 October)
• Proposing important amendments on various files (EU driving licence directive, EU funds such as the Recovery and Resilience Fund, the Work-Life Balance Directive) and keeping the political momentum on certain topics (Victim’s Rights Directive, Horizontal Equal Treatment Directive)
• The establishment of the first unit explicitly dedicated to age equality within the European Commission’s DG Justice and support the work of an important unit working on ageing policies in DG Employment and Social Affairs
• In previous legislatures, the Intergroup on ageing was instrumental in important advancements in policies regarding ageing and older persons, including a focus of the Horizon 2020 research programme on increasing healthy life expectancy, the European Year 2012 on Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations and its outcome resolution, minimum standards to access supplementary pensions, better protection of beneficiaries of occupational pensions and many more!