Senior Citizens are Bridge-buildersImpressions of the Regional Conference for the Nordic Countries in Malmö / Visit to Copenhagen
Malmö. At the end of August, senior citizens from Sweden, Norway, Estonia and Latvia as well as Board Members from Germany and Austria gathered in Malmö in Sweden for the 5th “Nordic Regional Conference”. The conference theme of “Bridging Over” enabled ESCU Vice President Leif Hallberg (Stockholm) to address the specific situation in this region, which also includes former Soviet-occupied states in the form of Estonia and Latvia. However, it soon emerged that bridge-building was an extremely urgent concern for the older generation.
Summarising the debate, the President, Dr. Worms, concluded that “Cooperation across state and generational boundaries is vital, possible and full of potential.” Referring to the general theme of the VI ESCU Congress, held at the end of September/beginning of October in Pulheim, he declared this form of cooperation to be “fundamental in solving many current and future problems in the political and social arena”.
In terms of the responsibility of the older generation for the whole of society, young politicians also spoke in Malmö, emphasising those aspects of collaboration which make for peace and unite peoples.
Further topics covered in the seminar included the rights of senior citizens when visiting abroad (Ingrid Lunderquist of Denmark), the lamentable social position of pensioners in the Baltic States (Juris Zanders of Latvia) and the experiences of the ESCU’s “East Region” (U. Winz of Berlin). Dr. Tungesvik (Norway) spoke on the subject of “Senior Citizens – Who Cares?” from the point of view of health professionals and the National Council for Senior Citizens. In closing, he declared that “Age is not an illness!”
A visit to the Christian Democrats in Copenhagen and their President, Bodil Kornbek, culminated in a willingness to consider membership of the ESCU.
Seminar participants from 6 countries came to know the history and countryside of Southern Sweden, as they were received in turn by leading representatives of the city and the Skåne Region (under Danish rule until 1658).
Ulrich Winz
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