Press Release: Ageing costs: cut deficits and reform pensions now to leave a sustainable legacy for our children tomorrow

Achieving balanced budgets in the medium-term would enable the EU Member States to face up to the daunting pension costs of an ageing population with much more confidence. If we achieve this goal, the EU average debt-to-GDP ratio would increase from today’s 63% to about 80% by 2050 instead of almost 200% on current policies, according to a Communication to the Council and Parliament on the Long-Term Sustainability of Public Finances in the EU. It shows that Member States with high budgetary imbalances and significant projected increases in age-related expenditure are more at risk than others. But coping with the budgetary impact of ageing is a key policy challenge for the EU as whole. The answer lies in reducing public debts, raising employment rates and improving productivity while pursuing reform of pension, health care and long-term care systems.

• Primary Source

European Commission: DG Communication: MEMO/06/372 http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/06/372&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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