Presidium and Executive Committee meeting in Leuven

On 24-26 March, we organised a meeting in Leuven with Presidium members and Executive Committee members. It was a varied programme: we took a look back at 2022 with the discussion of the annual report and made plans for the future. (Please find our Annual Report from 2022 here) Several highly qualified speakers supported our exploration of today’s challenges.

We were glad to welcome Steven Van Hecke (Professor at  KU Leuven) and Sebastien Dechamps (Emergency Aid Coordinator, Caritas International Belgium) for an intervention on respectively “An overview of the current challenges in Europe” and “The living conditions of the Ukrainian people and how to support them” (see ppt prof van Hecke and text Deschamps). Prof Van Hecke presented a broad panorama opening the discussion for several subjects. The solidarity with Ukraine was expressed in the EPP as ‘Winter solidarity’ and the preservation of ‘generators’. The ESU will continue our solidarity with Ukraine and look for appropriate contacts.

Central to our programme we paid attention to the new European approach concerning care strategy. To this end, we had the honour and pleasure of welcoming Colin Scicluna (Head of Cabinet of Dubravka Šuica, Vice-President of the European Commission), supporting our discussion and approval concerning a long-prepared resolution in which Heinz Becker took the lead: “The New European Care Strategy: towards affordable quality care for all people who need it.” (Please find the full report and approved resolution on our website.)

It was mentioned several times and all the delegates were aware that 2023 and 2024 will be very busy and important years at different political levels. Also for the EPP and ESU. With EPP Compliance Director Paweł Graś we looked ahead to the EPP political strategy (Please find his intervention here). Dr Teona Lavrelashvili informed us about her research on “Opportunities and obstacles for the establishment of senior associations in some defined European countries” (Please find her presentation here). She also introduced a special guest, Ms Rozália Biró, from Romania, exchanging views with Els vanhoof , about the need for more cooperation ‘across borders’ of national states. (Please find the full report of this side event on our website.)

On Sunday afternoon, all participants left Leuven, at that moment a grey, cold and wet city. But at the farewell, warm words of appreciation and thanks were expressed for everyone who contributed to the success of the weekend. The weekend’s participants, all delegates from their senior citizens’ associations, went home with new insights, strong solidarity and the conviction that together we have an active role to play in tomorrow’s Europe across generations.