FINCOM - Conference of the Chairs of the Finance Committees of the Parliaments of the Member States of the European Union, the European Parliament and the Parliaments of EU Candidate Countries

Demographic change and the sustainability of public finances

 

On Monday, 30 April 2007, politicians specialising in financial matters from the national parliaments of the European Union and the candidate states met in Berlin. At the invitation of Eduard Oswald, Chairman of the Finance Committee of the German Bundestag, the parliamentarians examined the challenges of demographic change and asked how the stability of public finances and the stability of financial markets could be secured for the future. The conference formed part of the parliamentary dimension of the German EU Council Presidency.

 

Following introductory speeches by Chairman Eduard Oswald and Dr Helmut Linssen, Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Bundesrat, speeches on these topics were also given by Dr Thomas de Maizière, Federal Minister and Head of the Federal Chancellery, and Dr. Barbara Hendricks, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Finance. Dr Norbert Lammert, President of the German Bundestag, sent a message of welcome to the participants in the conference.