Intergenerational justice that creates development

Thirdly, the alliance between generations must be characterised by sustainability in the logic of intergenerational equity.

It is based on a simple but diriment principle: we cannot consume all resources (natural and financial) today, leaving future generations with a compromised ecosystem and unsustainable debt. This requires reducing inequalities within the current generation, as the poverty - economic and educational - affecting the young undermines the future of all. Recent estimates of the Intergenerational Justice Index, conducted within the framework of the Age-It partnership, confirm the existence of profound inequalities: the elderly are relatively better protected economically with more stable incomes and greater protection from the risk of poverty, in contrast, the young are favoured in social relations but are more exposed to precariousness, unemployment and difficulties in accessing housing.

The method to be adopted is certainly not to fuel a harmful opposition of young versus old.

On the contrary, the Strategy on Intergenerational Equity approved by the European Commission on 4 March is welcome.

This is not just a declaration of intent, but a real strategy with earmarked resources, with which the Commission institutionalises long-term risk analysis directly in the European legislative cycle.

The Commission promotes a dual solidarity, which not only looks at young people but also focuses on active longevity and the so-called silver economy.

Thus, a true intergenerational alliance, creating a system in which the ageing population does not become a burden, but a resource, through new forms of assistance and civic participation. This intervention by the Commission appears to be of great significance because so far too little has been done with respect to the epochal challenge of ageing as well as with respect to the delicate and growing decline in fertility, a phenomenon that profoundly affects the demographic, social and economic balance of our country and of Europe as a whole. It is clear that policy changes are needed, as this pact envisages. A strategy, therefore, that favours effective collaboration between gener