VOLUME 8, NUMBER 3, 2005

Base and recommendations for the National Social Protection Programme for the elderly 2006 - 2010 and for the National strategy for development of a society with a larger share of old population
Jože Ramovš

This is a systematic expert article written with two purposes: preparing the national strategy on the old population, and making a positive social environment for good connection among generations. This governmental strategy will be followed by the formation of specific programmes in several governmental departments: social, working, family, health, educational, traffic, housing, communicational, cultural and scientific. The adoption of this national strategy as well as the social and other programmes of different departments is dictated by other Slovenian and international political documents. It is based on four social facts: 1. the growth of the old population, especially the oldest old; 2. the weakening of the intergenerational connection and the danger of loosing the intergenerational solidarity; 3. the blind eye of the western society in both experiencing the meaning of old age and valuating it and, in relation with this, the contradiction of marginalized independency of the third generation; 4. failing of the traditional family care and care coming from the neighbours aimed to a frail old person. The description of the aims of this strategy and programmes is followed by two comprehensive chapters with numerous concrete suggestions for programmes and actions; the first one contains suggestions for sustainable development of the existing programmes for elderly care, the second one contains suggestions for development and implementation of the new programmes for better intergenerational relations and quality ageing in the next decades. One of the main ideas of this article is the realisation that a systematic social care for good relations among young, middle and old generation is the condition for good mastering of the tasks of the elderly care. The author believes that the development of the European culture and its survival depend on how we will manage to solve these two tasks in the next three decades; they should be tackled right away as a priority tasks of sustainable development.

Key words: social policy, gerontology, social protection programmes, good intergenerational relations

Intergenerational support and exchanges in 13 European countries
Jimm Ogg, Sylvie Renaut

The aim of this paper is to use the available information in the Social Networks II (NSII) survey to examine social relations and support systems from the perspective of different generations in several European countries, and in particular in relation to older generations. The focus is on two types of older generation family members: the "older" generation and the "pivot" generation. Three dimensions of support are examined using the information available in the SNII module - face to face contact, potential sources of support for three specific items, and norms and values regarding intergenerational transfers.

Key words: Europe, intergenerational support, exchange