Within the framework of the Austrian Council Presidency, a three-day conference is taking place on the subject "Demographic Challenges – Family Needs Partnership" at the Vienna Hofburg. "The aim of the conference is to strengthen joint initiatives, to make society more aware of the importance of the family, and to reduce the barriers to the compatibility of working life and family," said Social Security Minister Ursula Haubner at a press conference held on Thursday to mark the start of the conference.
By 2010, for the first time in Europe there will be more 55-64 year-olds than 15-24 year-olds, added Haubner; demographic change will have effects on economic growth, employment markets and social security. The central theme of the conference, in which delegates from 33 states are participating, is the question of internal partnership within the family and in particular the role of men, and the external partnership between the family and the world of work.
The most important factor serving to increase the fertility rate is the right to daycare for all children, said Finnish Secretary of State for Social Affairs, Leila Kostiainen, adding that in Finland, such provision is already in place. The Finnish model of the "strengthening positive cycle" is based on equal opportunity in employment which, she explained, also strengthens equality in the context of family life. The high level of employment promotes economic growth, which in turn enables higher levels of social welfare services to be paid for.
The Finnish Presidency in the second half of 2006 intends to continue the work begun by Austria and focus on equal opportunities in both employment and the family, looking in particular at the maintenance of employment skills and increasing the attractiveness of working life.
Haubner stressed that Austria needed to strengthen its policy on equal opportunities and make it easier for mothers to return to work in order to increase the fertility rate. But equal status of fathers and mothers in the context of raising their children was also necessary.
British Under Secretary of State for Employment, Gerry Sutcliffe, stressed that the demographic problem had to be addressed here and now. In the UK, a law has just been introduced to improve the compatibility of working and family life, the aim being to give mothers and fathers equal status during the first year of a child's life. However, he added that laws alone would not suffice; the economy and the social environment also needed to change.
Immigration would perhaps solve the demographic problem in the short term, but certainly not over the medium or long term, said Haubner, which is why starting a family had to be affordable. Kostiainen and Sutcliffe stressed that every country had to take a look at its own employment market and demographic trends and take the appropriate measures.
Heimo Lepuschitz
Press officer
Offfice of Minister Ursula Haubner, Federal Ministry of Social Security
Generations and Consumer Protection
1010 Vienna, Stubenring 1
Tel: +43 1 71100/22 68
+43 664 825 77 78
Fax: +43 1 71100/22 54
e-mail: heimo.lepuschitz@bmsg.gv.at
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