Joint call: The new European Commission must prioritise long-term care
More than 30 million people across Europe rely on long-term care due to age, disability, or illness: their needs, as well as those of their carers and service providers, must not be overlooked. Long-term care must be recognised as a fundamental pillar of social protection across all EU Member States.
In December 2022, as part of the broader European Care Strategy, the European Union took an important step in addressing the long-term care crisis by adopting the Council Recommendation on Long-Term Care. The Strategy emphasises the importance of supporting informal carers, improving the working conditions of professional care workers, and addressing the persistent shortages in the long-term care workforce.
Since then, all EU Member States have presented national reports outlining their plans to implement these recommendations, demonstrating their commitment to the Strategy’s goals. However, the new European Commission’s mission letters fail to fully reflect this ambition. The issue of long-term care is primarily mentioned in relation to workforce shortages, which is undoubtedly a critical challenge, but it represents only one dimension of a much broader issue.
A significant concern remains the lack of adequate support for informal carers, the majority of whom are women. Many informal carers experience economic hardship, social exclusion, and declining health due to the unrecognised and unpaid nature of their work.
To address these issues, the European Union must take concrete action. EASPD and several European organisations call for the establishment of a European Long-Term Care Platform as part of the revised Action Plan on the European Pillar of Social Rights. This platform should provide a structured framework for monitoring and transparency, engaging all relevant stakeholders, including civil society organisations. An annual meeting, modelled after the Long-Term Care Forum held in November 2024, would provide a space for discussion and policy coordination.
With this joint call, EASPD reaffirms our commitment to ensuring that long-term care remains a priority on the EU’s agenda. We urge the European Commission to fully integrate the ambitions of the European Care Strategy into its policy planning for the coming years.