Intergenerational Fairness

Conclusion of the debate on intergenerational fairness

After months of discussion with many contributions from citizens, the debate on intergenerational fairness is closed.

The debate was launched to support the design of an Intergenerational Fairness Strategy and marks a significant step forward in this process.

Participants from across the EU dealt with a range of subjects related to intergenerational fairness, from social cohesion, democracy and governance to environmental and economic sustainability, as well as care and education systems.

The debate illustrates the need for a more equitable, sustainable and cohesive Europe that supports all generations in order to address the core challenges to reach intergenerational fairness.

How will the Commission follow up on collected ideas?

Now that the debate is concluded, the ideas submitted by citizens on the Platform will help inform the next steps. Your insights are key to ensuring that intergenerational fairness is taken into account when the European Commission takes the strategy forward.

Check out the debate and events on intergenerational fairness where citizens participated in discussions and activities happening around you and online.

Please find the debate results in the final report in the Documents section below.

Intergenerational fairness: what's at stake?

We are at a crucial moment in history where more generations than ever are co-existing. In view of the climatic, economic and demographic challenges we are facing, it is crucial that no generation - whether living now or in the future – gets left behind.

Young and old, we all have a stake in what the future holds and what we would like it to look like. The same applies to future generations – those who are not born yet.

This is why as many EU citizens as possible should have their say on the present and the future.

Citizens of any age and generation have the right to live in a clean, prosperous and fair world.

If we act now, together, we can make this future happen.

See the debate

Timeline

From February to November 2025, the strategy was designed, in co-creation with you:

February - April
Scoping
How is intergenerational fairness understood? What initiatives exist already?
June - July
Vision building
What do we imagine it to be? What for?
August - October
Strategy ideas
What are the key ideas, values, needs and actions?
October - November
Strategy co-creation
Where do we want to go? What paths should we take?

Scoping: summary of insights and ideas

We are excited to share the progress made in the scoping phase, through which we identified the root causes behind the rising issues of intergenerational fairness, along with topical areas for action. The results of the scoping phase, as well as the analysis of your contributions that fed into it, can be found in the documents section below.

Vision building: imagining intergenerationally fair futures

In the visioning phase, we invited you to imagine what an intergenerationally fair future could look like. You shared your visions about connecting with people of different ages and forging bonds with past and future generations. With the help of literary writers, we’ll use your contributions to create inspirational stories about fairer futures. The results of this phase will be out soon, so stay tuned.

Find out more

Strategy ideas: what we can do to realise our visions

This phase in the process was for ‘strategy ideas.’ We thought about key ideas and actions that could be undertaken to realise the visions we collectively built and shared.

Find out more

Strategy Co-creation: Citizens in the Lead

In this last phase we invited the citizens participating in the European Citizens’ Panel on Intergenerational Fairness to build on the work carried out in the previous phases while also bringing in new ideas and exploring new areas that deserved attention. Citizens' collective vision, priorities and recommendations will fed into the reflections surrounding the drafting of the Strategy for Intergenerational Fairness.

Why do we need this?

Did you know that

Less than half of Europeans believe that society is fair and equal (source: Eurobarometer – 2022)
Countries with lower age-related inequalities have higher levels of life satisfaction overall (source: OECD - 2020)
Governments that balance the needs and interest of the present and future generations have higher levels of trust (source: OECD – 2023)