9th ESU Congress
Leuven - Belgium
On 4-5 November 2016, the triennial ESU Congress took place in Leuven. Theme: Together for a safe and social Europe.
On 21-22 October 2016, the ESU and its Slovenian member organisations organised a regional Conference on Civil society and active participation. The first ESU conference in Ljubljana was successful. Thanks to the presidents of the three Slovenian ESU senior associations (SDS seniors – Zvone Zinrajh, Nova Sovenija seniors – Joze Jurkovic, SLS seniors – Anton Bogataj), who took the initative to organize this conference.
At the opening session the presidents of the three mother parties (SDS- Mr. Janez Jansa, N.Si-Mr. Jozef Horvat, vice-pres., SLS-Mr. Marko Zidanek) welcomed all the participants. ESU President, An Hermans, emphasized the need of working together at the European level to achieve our common goals.
President Hermans concluded the Ljubljana conference after the adoption of a final declaration: Ageing Europe should not be an incentive for instability or an encouragement for migrantion flows. She highlighted some challenges for intergenerational solidarity and cohesion in European societies and confirmed the statement of Prof. dr. Andrej Umek on the key challenge of youth employment.