At its last meeting in Brussels, the international working group, whose members included gerontology specialists from several countries, including an assistant professor at the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Debrecen, consulted with the decision-makers of the European Commission on the development of new regulations related to the issuance of driver’s licenses to the elderly, writes unideb.hu.
Ágnes Bene, assistant professor of the Gerontology Department of the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Debrecen, also participated in the upcoming meeting of the European Commission’s international consultative body on aging in Brussels.
In the Age-friendly environments working group of AGE Platform Europe, specialists are working on the development of new regulations and guidelines that may later be authoritative in relation to the issuance of driver’s licenses required by elderly drivers. The members of the working group, including the ETK assistant professor, consulted directly with representatives of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport and discussed age-related issues related to the issuance, use, and extension of driving licenses.
Representing the perspectives of elderly consumers, the working group is also cooperating with the European Central Bank in the preparation of the digital euro that is about to be introduced.
Within the AGE Platform Europe, the work takes place in four thematic working groups in the period between 2022-2025, in which the EU member states are represented by elderly organizations and institutions dealing with aging at a professional level. This role is played by the Gerontological Coordination Center at the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Debrecen, headed by Marianna Móré, dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Debrecen. Specialists from the Faculty of Health Sciences are present in each of the thematic working groups. The head of the faculty emphasized: with the representation, they form a bridge between the cooperating domestic elderly organizations, retired club associations, active elderly groups, and the international arenas of gerontology, and they can also influence EU decision-making concerning the elderly.
The Gerontology Department of the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Debrecen is a central player in domestic gerontology. The staff of the department will organize the international conference called Gerontology Days again this year, on October 12-13. The website of the conference is now available in English at this link.
