The Diplomat
The Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Democracy and Demography, Dubravka Šuica, warned yesterday in Madrid that, while the population is increasing around the planet, in Europe “it is shrinking” and, in the case of Spain, the “great depopulation” has become “a tremendous problem”.
“On November 15 last year there were already 8,000 million people on the planet, but in Europe the population is shrinking,” said the Commissioner during a breakfast briefing at the New Economy Forum. At the current rate, she warned, “the forecasts indicate that in 2070 Europeans will only represent 4% of the world’s population, which is not compatible with “our desire to be world leaders”. This demographic challenge, he warned, affects the economy, because, “at the moment, 2.6 Europeans work for every retired person, but in 2050 the ratio will be 1.6 to one, which is certainly not viable”.
The impact of these “low birth rates” is “important for all the Member States, including Spain”, the Vice-President assured. In any case, she warned, the phenomenon of the low birth rate “is not the same” for all European countries and, in the case of Spain, the problem of depopulation is “tremendous” and the demographic challenge is “pressing”.
According to Šuica, “demography is a competence of the Member States”, but the Commission’s objective is “to create an atmosphere conducive to a higher birth rate”. Precisely, the Commissioner was received after the event by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, with whom she discussed “policies to address the challenges of depopulation and aging during the Spanish Presidency”, as reported by the head of Spanish diplomacy via Twitter.
The Vice President also addressed the “long-term vision for rural areas” adopted by the Commission in the framework of its cohesion policies, because “we have identified in our first report on demographic change that 80% of Europe’s geography is covered by rural areas and that in this 80% of the territory lives only a third of the European population, that is, 130 million people”. In the case of Spain, she warned, it is necessary to promote the development of rural areas to alleviate the “great depopulation” that exists in these regions.
“During the COVID pandemic, rural regions suddenly became very attractive because people wanted to live outdoors so as not to become infected, but now things have changed” because “in rural areas there are no services, or not enough services,” she warned. For this reason, she said, it is necessary to “invest a lot in rural areas to bring services” and to make them “attractive and prosperous” so that people “are inclined to live in these areas”. In this sense, she added, it is necessary to “bring broadband Internet to rural areas, be they mountains or valleys”, since jobs currently depend “on how you can be connected to the network”.
Child poverty, Ukrainian children and old age
On the other hand, Dubravka Šuica called for greater cooperation from member states to deploy effective policies against child poverty. “It’s unbelievable, in Europe we are talking about one in five children being at risk of poverty,” she lamented. “We have a pilot project in six Member States” to “address the issue of child poverty”, but “some States have not appointed any national coordinators” for this problem and “we need more cooperation with Member States on this issue”, she added.
According to the European vice-president, “a large proportion” of her work “has to do with Ukrainian children“. “We believe that 20,000 children have been forcibly deported to Russia and with the help of Unicef and the International Red Cross we are trying to help these children, but it is not easy at all,” she continued. “There are also many orphans who have arrived in different centers in Europe from Ukrainian institutions and we are trying to find them a family so that they are not in institutions,” she added.
As for the elderly, the commissioner warned that “we are living longer and longer and we have to take care of those people who have low retirement pensions and have a lot of time left ahead of them.” “European pension systems are not sustainable over time” and therefore, she said, it is necessary “to be more flexible with pensions.” Likewise, she continued, “it is extremely important to promote lifelong learning, resolve the issue of the digital skills gap” and that “older people are able to use digital technologies to be able to be autonomous”.
