GENEVA - Labor ministers of candidate countries to the European Union (EU) convened to discuss retirement reform under the chairmanship of Labor and Social Security Minister Murat Basesgioglu in Geneva on Tuesday.
Delivering a speech at the meeting, Basesgioglu said that pension was one of the most important factors in fight against poverty.
Basesgioglu said that researches showed that if there were not any programs regarding pensions, 25 percent of household in the EU countries would have suffered from poverty.
He said that elder population which was 34 million in EU countries in 1960s reached 61 million in 2000.
Noting that this trend would further increase in EU member and candidate countries including also Turkey, Basesgioglu said that if there was not any reform in retirement regimes, increase in elder population would cause a decrease in participation in labor force.
Basesgioglu said that regulations on retirement age should be supported with measures increasing employment and stated that pension reform should be prepared by taking into consideration a wide perspective including woman-man equality.
He said that there should be balance among employment, social harmony and productivity and noted that all candidate countries took a series of measures in harmony with their own social, economic and democratic structures.
Basesgioglu added that this meeting aimed to exchange experiences on that issue among EU candidate countries.
(EÖ-AÖ) 10.06.2003