Dear Members and Friends of the European Federation of Older Persons!
First of all I hope that you and your families have been able to start the new year joyfully and in an optimistic mood. At the same time I wish you all a happy, interesting and reasonably healthy 2017 - as a good basis to energetically and successfully implement your life plans during the next 12 month and go on being an important and honoured actor in your family, in the circle of your friends as well as in society at large.
While present political, social and economic processes do not always produce results to our full liking, our own organisation - the European Federation of Older Persons - can look back to an excellent development during the last year:

• We had two very good, well attended and forward looking General Council meetings in Ljubljana and in Bratislava where we experienced high recognition of our common work and could enjoy great hospitality rendered by our local friends and by public institutions.
• We have very successfully finished our cooperation with high-level partners in the research project of the European Union named “Social Innovation on Active and Healthy Ageing for Sustainable Economic Growth”, SIforAGE, to which EURAG has contributed number of scientific and strategic papers. The project has ended with a remarkable international conference in Barcelona in October last and has published, on the initiative of EURAG, a White Paper titled “Making Choices for a Society for All Ages” in 9 languages. For more details see below.
• In this context EURAG has continued its substantive reflection work within the NGO Committee on Ageing at the United Nations in Vienna - in particular on issues of participation of older persons in society - and has arranged, through its good contacts, for a conference of SIforAGE in the European Parliament titled “Towards ‘A Europe For All Ages’ - Social Innovation Strategies for Active and Healthy Ageing Policies in the European Union”.

continue