12.6.2007   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 150/5

(1)

Article 140 of the Treaty establishing the European Community provides that the Commission shall encourage cooperation between the Member States and facilitate the coordination of their action in all social policy fields.

(2)

In accordance with the Commission Communication of 12 October 2006 entitled ‘The demographic future of Europe, from challenge to opportunity’, the Commission has decided to enlist the assistance of a group of government experts.

(3)

The group must contribute to the development of policies for adapting to demographic change.

(4)

Care will be taken to ensure complementarity and an absence of overlap with the activities of other groups and committees dealing with demographic issues, including the Employment Committee, the Social Protection Committee, the Economic Policy Committee, the Economic and Financial Committee, the Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men and the High-Level Group on Gender Mainstreaming. The Commission will inform these bodies of the activities of the expert group on demographic issues.

(5)

The group must be composed of government representatives of the Member States and of independent experts.

(6)

The expert group on demographic issues should therefore be set up and its terms of reference and structures defined,

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assist the Commission in drawing conclusions from the research results, in identifying relevant data for the demography reports and in fostering exchanges of good practice for which the Demographic Forum will provide a platform. It shall take into account the results of the numerous actions and research projects undertaken by the European institutions on these subjects,

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enable the Member States to give their opinions on the broad responses required to meet the demographic challenge and on the specific initiatives resulting from the Communication of 12 October 2006 on the demographic future of Europe and its aftermath, in particular in the fields that are not already well covered by the existing committees and advisory groups,

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assist the Commission in preparing the future demography reports and in assessing the EU's state of preparation for demographic change (assessment to be included in the annual progress report on the implementation of the Lisbon Strategy),

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provide the opportunity for exchanges of experience and good practice in the field of family policy, and support efforts to improve the quality of life of persons with care responsibilities,

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solicit oral and written contributions from the social partners and civil society organisations.

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the members shall remain in office until they are replaced, or until the expiry of their term of office,

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members who are no longer able to make an effective contribution to the work of the group, who resign or who breach the requirements set out in the first or second indent of this Article or in Article 287 of the Treaty establishing the European Community may be replaced for the remainder of their term of office,

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the names of the members appointed in a personal capacity shall be published on the Internet site of the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities and in the Official Journal of the European Union, series C. The names of members shall be collected, processed and published in accordance with the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1) on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data.