Earlier this week, we hosted part of the Board of our new Finnish member Caritaslaiset for an intense two-day study visit to Brussels. The visit focused on “Making long-term care accessible, affordable and of quality in line with the European Pillar of Social Rights.

On the first day of their visit, the participants could learn more about our network, as well as our work on advocating for long-term care and people with disability, also considering the principles of the Social Pillar and the debate around the next EU budget. Later in the morning, the group had the opportunity to meet Mr. Georgi Karaghiozov from the Secretariat of the Social Protection Committee and to learn more about the European Council work on social protection for long-term care needs.

The participants had also the opportunity to meet with Mr. Borja Arrue, Project and Policy Officer from our partner AGE Platform Europe, who presented the platform’s work on advocating for elderly people and tackling ageism, as well as the ongoing cooperation between AGE and Eurodiaconia. The first-day study visit concluded with a meeting with Ms Diana Eriksonaite, Policy Officer from the Unit on Modernisation of Social Protection Systems of the European Commission Directorate General on Employment and Social Affairs. The participants were given a presentation on sustainability and inequality challenges and opportunities for social services, long-term care and pension systems in Europe.

On the second day of study visit, the group visited the Permanent Representation of Finland to the EU and met Mr Antero Kiviniemi, Senior Specialist in Social Policy, learning more about the PermRep advocacy work towards the EU institutions, with a particular focus on social policies.

Before leaving Brussels, the participants had the opportunity to visit the European Parliament and to meet MEP Sirpa Pietikainen, member of the EP Intergroup on Active Ageing. With the Caritaslaiset Board members had a very fruitful conversation on how to tackle the challenges for long-term care systems in Finland and Europe in terms of sustainability, modernisation and staff qualification.

 

To know more about our new Finnish member, please visit Caritaslaiset website.