ADVERTISEMENTThe European Union is “exploring ways” to create an index to measure how countries perform on intergenerational fairness, European Commissioner for Youth, Culture and Sport Glenn Michalef has told Euronews.
“We are exploring ways of an index and compass for intergenerational fairness that would be built on existing initiatives and on broader sustainability and well-being indicators,” the European Commissioner said.
“These tools should help track progress and embed the intergenerational perspective into policymaking more systematically,” he added.
Michalef told Euronews on the European Day of Solidarity between Generations on Tuesday that the EU intends to propose an overall strategy of intergenerational fairness for 2026.
Intergenerational solidarity is already enshrined in the EU treaties, albeit without ‘fairness’, though he is the first to hold a portfolio dedicated specifically to the issue.
“Beyond formal texts, the ambition is to embed intergenerational fairness as a cross-cutting principle throughout different EU policies, asking consistently: are we acting fairly towards future generations?” Michalef said.
There will not be a dedicated budget to the matter, however, “the objective with the strategy is to capitalise on all EU funds and programmes that are directly contributing to building fair and sustainable futures,” the commissioner said.
As a cross-cutting subject, he said such fairness could encompass access to housing, climate justice as well as education and other essential sectors of society.
“The work on intergenerational fairness is closely linked to the Commission’s strategic foresight agenda, with the ambition to ensure that today’s decisions do no harm to and take into consideration the interests of future generations,” the commissioner said.
Existing research
An intergenerational solidarity index was already developed by interdisciplinary scientist Jamie McQuilkin in 2015, as a way to assess how countries are supporting the wellbeing of future generations across 122 countries.
The scholar used ten indicators, taking into account economic, social and environmental dimensions.
A new version was published in 2020 by McQuilkin with social philosopher Roman Krznaric, which revealed a strong correlation between democracy and intergenerational solidarity, with top-performing countries in intergenerational solidarity being democracies while autocracies appeared at the bottom of the rankings.
However, major studies — including a 2020 report by Cambridge University’s Centre for the Future of Democracy — show that most young people are increasingly disillusioned with democracy.
The study showed that 55% of millennials say they are dissatisfied with democracy, while fewer than half of Generation X and baby boomers felt the same way at that age.
“We recognise the urgency of addressing this trend. That’s why we are investing in youth participation, introducing youth checks and amplifying youth voices through initiatives like our citizen engagement platform, also on intergenerational fairness,” the commissioner said.
ADVERTISEMENTHe told Euronews that in Autumn, the European Commission will launch a citizens’ panel to create a dialogue on intergenerational fairness to “ensure that young people, alongside older generations, contribute directly to our future strategy,” he said.
