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His Excellence, the President of the Portuguese Republic, sent Cáritas Coimbra a support message with several recommendations on the Thematic network SHAFE – Smart Healthy Age-Friendly Environments.

In 2018 SHAFE will deliver a Framing Paper and a Joint Statement on Smart Healthy Age-Friendly Environments (deadline October 25th) that will be presented to the European Commission in November. SHAFE is coordinated by Cáritas Coimbra and AFEdemy, in close cooperation with main partners, such as the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP-AHA), European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities (EIP-SCC), Reference Sites Collaborative Network, European Covenant on Demographic Change, Eurocities, Utrecht University, European Centre Social Welfare Policy, European Health Telematics Association (EHTEL) and ECHAlliance and over 100 associated partners so far.

Prof. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa highlights in his message that “The challenge that is launched through the work developed in Portugal by Cáritas Coimbra, for one of the European Commission’s Thematic Networks for 2018 – SHAFE Smart Healthy Age-Friendly Environments is one of the most strategic challenges for Europe nowadays and future days… this is an eminently humanist debate, representing as cornerstone, a fundamental option. The option to decide on what kind of society we want to live. If in a society that cares about human values, or in a technocratic, economic society, that financializes people’s lives. It is not about overcoming science and rigor in the analysis of reality. It is about going further, knowing how we want to respond: involving everyone.”

The President highlights that “this is not anyone’s monopoly, neither of political parties nor of social partners. It is a national issue and a European issue, which requires consensus and broad political and social agreements. Only then the answers will match the dimension of the challenge.”

The message ends with an inspiring idea, that “It is therefore a difficult but stimulating challenge, the one for which Caritas Coimbra proposes to contribute. A challenge that should motivate and unite all the Portuguese.”

The full message may be read in: https://en.caritascoimbra.pt/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/09/President-of-the-Republic-of-Portuguese-message-SHAFE.pdf

SHAFE’s coordinators praise the interest of the Portuguese Presidency in this matter and appreciate in particular the speed and excellence of the response, which will be integrated into the opening text of the Joint Declaration to be delivered to the European Commission in November 2018.