Proposition 51K2503

Projet de loi créant un Conseil consultatif fédéral des aînés.

General information ¶

Submitted by

The Senate

Submission date

March 28, 2006

Official page

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Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

elderly person social participation population ageing

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

CD&V Vooruit Ecolo LE PS | SP Open Vld MR

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Discussion ¶

Feb. 15, 2007 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

I am referring to my written report.

I have three registered speakers: Mrs Gerkens, Mr. Monfils and Mrs. De Block. I will take care of the order of the speakers to respect the balance between men and women and ensure equal treatment. Let me start with a man.

... and feminist.

Equality consists, as Cardinal de Retz said, in treating different situations differently.

Mr. Speaker, I have a double reason to speak before Mrs. Gerkens. First, the President invites me to do so. Secondly, I have the privilege of age because, unfortunately, looking at the list of advances, I find that I appear in third position out of 150, which, according to other criteria, would be very interesting but, in the present case, it leaves me a slight bitter taste. I feel comforted by saying that you are ahead of me, Mr. President.

We will vote on the creation of the Advisory Council of the Elderly and that is important. 50 years ago, being old was the end of career, reduced activity, health problems, social isolation and intellectual disconnection. In fact, from 60 or 65 years old, we were waiting for the end, it must be said! Fortunately, over time, things have changed. Every year, life expectancy increases by two to three months, medicine progresses every day. I am pleased to have contributed to bills allowing scientific research in all sectors (cloning, stem cells, etc.) that results in a fantastic leap. One day, without having to be a vampire as in the movies, being a hundred year old will be a perfect banality.

What is important is that the elderly person leaves his traditional status of marginalized and protected person in a "paternalist" way to affirm himself as a dynamic actor, not only of his own life but also of an economic, political, social and cultural life. We are talking about inactive: I would like to change the vocabulary. The number of people over 60 has doubled in Belgium in the last 50 years. We are all concerned by the phenomenon of demographic aging but ageing is not a negative element that would weigh on the country’s social becoming.

As long as the elderly person holds a place in society, it does not constitute a weight because it can contribute to economic and social development as an actor, as a consumer. We are finally beginning to realize the importance of the active role of the elderly. This has been seen most recently with the Pact of Solidarity between Generations set up by the government. It contains positive measures, allowing to work after the retirement age and encouraging active ageing of people who, despite having reached the age of 60, are still in very good shape and want to contribute to the development of the country.

The university of the third age now called "university of all ages" provides training to tens of thousands of seniors who are guided by a great intellectual curiosity. Travel agencies are registering more and more requests for distant destinations from older people. Individual mobility is increasing.

In short, if old age is a fatality, marginalization, rejection, forgetfulness, morosity are not the obligatory courtesy. The elderly now have an active role to play in our society and should be encouraged to do so.

It is in this context that this bill creating the Federal Advisory Council of the Elderly, or Third Age, takes all its meaning. It is not a gadget; it seems to me essential as we will strengthen citizen participation of the elderly and highlight the needs and expectations of the elderly. We can expect the Advisory Board to help us define a policy that is even closer to citizens.

Of course, it will be up to the Government to play its role and to establish, by means of enforcement orders, as soon as possible, this Advisory Council.

During the committee discussions, the Minister of Pensions announced that, for practical reasons, the establishment of this new Council would be the responsibility of the next government. I confess to be a little sorry. Why wait so long? Could these practical elements not be eliminated? Why are they blocking the project?

There are still various stops to be made, it is also necessary to specify its composition, its way of organization and operation, etc., all arrangements that should not take months. Especially because I think there will be a consensus on this creation.

Obviously, I am delighted to observe that, among the members of this Council, it is planned to elect members of the advisory boards of the Elders of the Regions. Per ⁇ this is the cause of this blockage because, from the top of the pyramid of the hierarchy, considering that the federal government constitutes the top of it, we will wait for the decisions of the intermediaries that are the regional governments. This is another problem.

But it is true that this can constitute difficulties and that all this needs to be organized. However, I think that this is not of an extreme difficulty: we are not at the point of the problem of Brussels-Hal-Vilvorde, of course, or other topics that annoy, but in a problem quite positive, in addition demanded by all the people of the third age. A structure must be established at the municipal level, as far as possible, at the provincial level, at the regional and community level and, finally, at the federal level.

It is of utmost importance that this Council may, at any time, draw the attention of the government and parliament, of public authorities, whatever they are, on the consequences of certain laws or regulations, or draw the attention on the difficulties encountered in the application of regulations and on the demands of the elderly in a particular sector. This seems to me fundamental.

It will also be indispensable that, on the day the Advisory Council will be established, it follows the recommendations it sends to governments or any other political body and that it can verify whether these have been followed by the executive authorities, to what extent and for what reasons they would not have been.

The accessibility of buildings for people with reduced mobility, for example, would be discussed at the municipal level, while at the federal level, a whole series of provisions must be taken into consideration, such as those relating to people who can still work after the retirement age, the traditional claims of which some we support, such as the abolition of the solidarity contribution, and more. It is essential!

We really need a movement that enables the elderly to realize that they are part of society, that they are not forgotten, and that they are not put in the closet with a few small benefits, waiting for, eventually, no more care to be taken of them.

Therefore, this moment is extremely important. This advisory council, if well organized, can significantly advance the cause of the elderly. I encourage all of my colleagues to vote in this direction.

Mr. Minister, I hope that we will be able to solemnly establish the Third Age Advisory Council as soon as possible because it is expected by many people.

The elderly are an ever-increasing group in our society. In fact, ageing means that they occur with more and more people in our society. It is therefore normal for them to have representatives in the organs that must decide on the quality of their further life.

They have gained a lot of experience and knowledge that can be usefully used. At the end of the previous legislature, the Flemish Parliament, by decree of 30 April 2004, established an advisory council for the elderly, in order to involve them in the policy. The Elder Talk Committee will fulfill the role of the Elder Council for the Flemish Community.

The Flemish Parliament wanted to stimulate the political participation of the elderly also at the municipal level through the local elderly councils. We know that they provide useful work in many municipalities.

There are also a number of federal policy areas where older people are involved. Especially in social security, there are many branches that directly affect the elderly. Let’s think about the pension issue, Mr. Minister. You may be in your place here. As regards pensions, the Advisory Committee for the pension sector has already been established. It should also be said that this committee has done meritorious work so far.

There are also very large interfaces in healthcare. Older people come into contact with health care more than assets, the financing of rest disorders is still an important competence of the health insurance. In addition, there are many other domains that concern them. Let us think about mobility.

Within the majority, a consensus quickly emerged in the Senate that such an elderly council should also be established at the federal level. I would like to make a small comment here. In terms of healthcare, we have now been able to consult a group of users, especially the elderly. Per ⁇ in the future we should also involve other groups, for example, we think only of chronically ill people.

I am pleased that we have come to one federal advisory council under which the various committees can work, and of which the Advisory Committee for the Pension Sector is one. In this way, we avoid the creation of parallel structures.

The scenario of having the Advisory Committee for the pension sector existed in addition to the Federal Advisory Council and is not an option for us.

We know too well that once a structure has been established in this country, it can hardly be abolished. We also want to avoid that more than one vote is bothered in the debate.

For the Federal Advisory Council, the applicants were, by the way, fully inspired by the royal decree governing the Advisory Committee for the Pension Sector. However, the fact that you work with multiple committees requires an office and in the general council the elderly should examine their opinions with each other. Indeed, even within this Federal Advisory Council, one will find that everything is interconnected and that the views of each other must be aligned.

There has been a lot of controversy around the term "olds" or "seniors". The elderly organizations themselves have chosen the term “elderly”, among other things also because of the alignment with the Flemish decree.

As regards the tasks, there is, however, an interesting additional task in addition to the advisory task, namely the discussion of the annual government policy statement on the matters concerned with the elderly and the deployment of workers and observers to the advisory committees established within the framework of the European Union and the evaluation of the service provided to the elderly by public authorities. A whole task package.

We look forward to the future with interest and ask future policymakers to learn from these opinions.

Our group is pleased that the bill, as it has been edited today, is there and hopes that this law will enter into force soon.

Mr. Speaker, Ecolo also welcomes the creation of a Federal Advisory Council for the Elderly, as such a council will be able to be consulted and address elements related to federal policy such as pensions, equal opportunities, the fight against precariousness, mobility and access to health care.

As several colleagues have already pointed out, this Council is all the more important as the elderly are now ⁇ active citizens in our society. Given the prolongation of our lifetime, accompanied by an improvement – in any case, this is what we must ⁇ – of the quality of life, it was crucial to give them the ability to be consulted on decisions that affect them directly or indirectly.

We would like to draw the attention of the Government on the need to consult this body in such a way that it can give opinions by having time to consult the elders it represents.

Furthermore, it is important that the government must justify its refusal to follow the recommendations from this Advisory Board. It should be avoided to set up a puppet advisory advice. This Council must have a real political weight. The opinions given must be available on a website, for example, excluding the annual report submitted to Parliament.

With regard to the composition of this Council, I would also like to emphasize the need to ensure pluralism, diversity and balance, taking into account the different philosophical, political, sociological currents within our society, so that this Federal Consultative Council is truly representative of the whole of Belgian elders and a real crossroads between different and complementary views.

I will conclude in the form of a bump: given the evolution of our demographic balance that tends to an ever-increasing number of elderly people, we think that one of the missions of the next government could be the establishment of the Federal Advisory Council of youth who will eventually become a minority to defend in our country!

Mr. Speaker, I would like to explicitly ask the Minister from my seat in the plenary session for a confirmation of a particular case.

We will approve the orders of the Federal Advisory Council for the Elderly. We have also done this in a positive way in the committee. However, this expansion only makes sense if it also follows logistical, financial and administrative support. Mr. Minister, I would like to hear the confirmation here that this support will actually come. After all, you know that the advisory committee is currently on the verge of the resources, both financial, administrative and logistical.

This is a plea for the proper functioning of the Federal Advisory Council for the Elderly. I would like to hear today again the confirmation from you that the necessary resources are also provided.

Mrs D’Hondt, I can confirm what I said in the committee, namely that since this is a parliamentary initiative, there has not been made a calculation in advance. The abolition of the Advisory Committee and the establishment of the Federal Advisory Council for the Elderly will probably no longer be for this legislature. Therefore, I did not provide new resources in addition to what is already available. I assume that as soon as the Council is established, the necessary resources will also be provided. I have said that in the committee. I repeat this with this for the report.

I don’t think Mrs. D’Hondt is too early. At first glance, she was not disappointed with the answer.

I have learned to control this.