Strategy on Intergenerational Fairness

The EESC Youth Test is being applied to this opinion. ESDN Youth was chosen by a group of interested youth organisations to represent all of them during the opinion-making process.

Key points

The EESC:

• stresses that intergenerational fairness must be made a cross-cutting principle applied to all EU policies and all age groups, with specific and ongoing attention paid to people in vulnerable situations;
• recommends that the Commission ensure that the implementation of the strategy explicitly takes into account that its central objective is to reduce social, economic, gender, age and territorial inequalities between generations, and to strengthen solidarity and social cohesion across generations to achieve democratic, resilient, inclusive and sustainable societies. The strategy should set long-term objectives with specific and measurable targets and indicators, clear accountability mechanisms, and arrangements to make intergenerational fairness a formal part of all EU policies;
• recommends that in order to achieve the objective of intergenerational fairness, the Commission use all existing and upcoming policies as levers, and explicitly align the implementation of the strategy with current frameworks, avoiding duplication, strengthening coherence and promoting intergenerational fairness in the implementation of existing rules, laws and programmes;
• recommends that the Commission ensure that the implementation of the strategy take into account the fact that the strengthening, improvement, universal affordability and non-discriminatory accessibility of essential services of general interest constitute a key milestone in achieving the objectives of intergenerational fairness;
• recommends that the Commission ensure that both young people and older people are fully recognised as organised stakeholders in the framework of the civil dialogue structures;
• recommends that the Commission invite and encourage European Union co-legislators and Member States in their respective roles to consider ways to apply the intergenerational fairness strategy to policy-making and decision-making to reduce intergenerational inequalities.

With the first strategy on intergenerational fairness, adopted in March 2026, the Commission aims to promote long-term thinking in governance and ensuring that young people have a stronger voice in shaping policies, by working on three pillars: Fair policy making, by applying a ‘youth check' and foresight tools; Fair opportunities, to address the risk of age discrimination; and Fair places, to ensure that the region one is born in doesn't define one's future.

To achieve this goal, the strategy sets out a number of actions including:

• developing an intergenerational fairness index to measure how well countries are protecting the future of younger and future generations. This will help to identify opportunities and gaps, inform policy decisions and promote fairness across generations.

• developing a future literacy policymaking toolkit for public administrations across EU countries

• organising a demography forum to exchange on demographic developments

• launching a ‘Voices of the Future’ initiative inviting local and regional authorities to engage in shaping their regions' future

The strategy also provides a common direction for different EU initiatives – from inclusive education to affordable housing – that are already contributing to intergenerational fairness.