Ladies and Gentlemen,

The Second World Conference on Ageing which has assembled us in Madrid under the banner of the United Nations, will, in a few days, adopt the International Action Strategy on Ageing. It is not just a plan for senior citizens. It is a plan for all mankind, since ageing is the prospect for all mankind from birth - it must be a concern for everyone.

No, ageing is no longer a burden. It is not a burden for those who age, as long as all the rights of senior citizens are recognized. It is not a burden for society, but rather, a chance for durable and harmonious development, as long as we know how to make the best use of the skills of ageing persons, and recognize the economic, civil, and social role of our senior citizens.

I would like at this stage to concur with the speech given by the Spanish delegate on behalf of the European Union. As has been said in this speech by the Presidency of the European Union, "senior citizens are an essential resource for the development of all societies."

Currently, faced with the demographic revolution in which we are immersed, we should reaffirm the collective commitment of all nations to prevent setting aside their older citizens, on the pretext that they are less productive. We should together encourage a simple, strong ideal: to guarantee the dignity of all senior citizens.

First point: dignity thanks to health and social protection

We must first take care of the conditions that permit access to health systems and quality care. Longevity is not an end in itself, if one has to age poorly.

We must first do our best to reduce the existing disparities in life experiences. We must also do what is needed to ensure that prolonging life does not lead to two-speed ageing; on the one hand, those who have access to costly medicines and treatments, and who age well because they age rich; on the other, those who suffer ageing by living badly for a longer period.

My previous professional experience, as well as my current responsibility as Minister in charge of senior citizens, has made me highly sensitive to the emphasis that has been placed, in the action program, on the training and qualifications of care-givers, and of all those involved in helping senior citizens to keep their independence. We have to build up those professions linked to ageing and those who attend senior citizens. Indeed, it is very appropriate that this action plan recognizes that support from the family, community, and the closest entourage on the one hand, complements the intervention of qualified personnel on the other hand.

In the program that we are going to adopt, we will establish ambitious social protection objectives: a guarantee of minimum decent resources for senior citizens; extending social protection, including innovative measures that make it possible to improve the protection of workers in the informal sector; searching for the best transparency and feasibility conditions for pension plans; fighting poverty among the most elderly, especially among women.

My government, in its bilateral cooperation actions such as its participation in multilateral programs, will support initiatives aimed at the development of new social protection or social security mechanisms, adapted to the economic and cultural context of developing countries.

The second point of my speech, dimity thanks to solidarity among generations.

Each civilization, each culture, builds specific bonds between different generations. But humanity requires that these bonds be marked by the recognition of the place occupied by each generation. The social contract that links human beings commands them to respect those who preceded them and to whom they owe so much.

It is more necessary than ever to reaffirm the essential solidarity between generations, the basis for all just and equitable societies. In order that in the future we never witness an "age war" or age rupture, we must encourage all those factors that unite generations: that is the meaning of the international Strategy on ageing.

Solidarity among generations necessarily has an economic and financial component. For us French citizens, that means our share-out pension systems, to which we are particularly attached because they constitute the foundation for an equitable and long-lasting social system.

Solidarity among generations is also a culture, a state of mind that must inspire public policy, the behaviour of social partners, and indeed, the behaviour of all citizens.

To favour solidarity among generations, we must value that treasure held by every human being: his own history, that sum of experiences and memories that he wants to share, to transmit, to hand down. It is precisely in this transmission of knowledge and experience that the strongest links are woven between the youngest and the oldest people, and that establish the real basis for an education.

We must also foster the movement which is beginning to arise among senior citizens, namely, making themselves available to others. Today, an increasing number of retired people, still very active physically and intellectually, want to take part in solidarity activities, especially through volunteer organizations. Helping in schools or with extracurricular activities, helping to start up companies, helping in North-South cooperation projects, responsibilities in home-assistance associations... this growing trend is bound to develop throughout the world. This aspect of the social commitment of retired persons is essential, since one can build an image of one's own dignity on the basis of being conscious of one's usefulness.

We must also encourage and support the solidarity of active persons towards senior citizens, and especially those whose independence is in decline. Because the loss of independence makes one vulnerable, because living conditions become difficult, this natural solidarity may be threatened. We must fight against all kinds of mistreatment which senior citizens may be victims of, and especially those that are often insidious, namely negligence, neglect, isolation.

 Simone de Beauvoir, almost 40 years ago, warned us that "If an adult rebuffs in an old man all possibility of communication by depriving his words, his gestures, his cries, of all sense, that old man will then shut himself in, will unlearn language, will slide out of mankind." Let us never lose sight of that humanitarian duty which is the more required of us, the more those around us are old and vulnerable.

Third and last point in my speech, dignity thanks to the complete participation of senior citizens in civil society, in economic and social life.

We must change our outlook on old age and ageing. For too long, we have equated old age with decrepitude, disregarding all the positive aspects of that period in life. In most of our societies, a man's worth has been established solely on the basis of his productive capacity, as a worker, and as soon as the age for professional work has passed, that worth shrinks, and gives way to a social vacuum in which the feeling of uselessness develops very quickly.

We must break away from this absurd and highly negative image of human existence.

 We must preserve and develop the activity of ageing workers, prevent age from becoming a factor for exclusion from the productive system. The program we are going to adopt has numerous action guidelines in this regard.

We must reconcile two requirements within our national legislations, both of which provide some dignity. We must ensure the right of ageing people to work or to remain active, prevent early retirement and the firing of ageing workers. We must at the same time reaffirm the right to retire, depending on a legal age that is not a cutoff age.

Aspiring to build one's life for as long as it lasts, in all its diversity, in all the social and family roles that one person can play, is the ambition that we must propose from now on.

Each age has its values and its riches: as we age, each of us can put his skills, and especially his experience, at the service of others. The participation of senior citizens in political and social life at the local, regional and national levels, must not be simply granted; it must be posited as a basic principle to which everyone has a right, and which every society ought to subscribe.

Permit me to state my belief that the recommendations that appear at the end of the action plan, regarding the importance of creating

 national ageing committees in every country, with representatives from civil society, starting with senior citizen organizations, are a very important lever for building a society for all ages.

The periods in our lives are various and sundry: this should lead us to propose a real life period policy that would help us to build a society for all ages.

 Conclusion:

We all confront the challenges posed by the ageing of the population, albeit in a world that is marked by deep inequalities as regards development. We are not equal in terms of life expectancy, we are not equal as regards the progress of medicine.

The most developed countries must ensure the consolidation of their social protection system, and improve the integration of persons who are increasingly older, in societies in which up to four or five generations may coexist. The poorest countries must lay the foundations for a social protection system for senior citizens, and focus on access for everyone to quality primary health care.

In conclusion, that is why I believe that it is important to reiterate that our work this week is inseparable from the entire set of development challenges, and from the commitments made in this regard during large social summit meetings or development conferences.