 Dear Vice President Suica, dear Mr. President, and dear colleagues. First of all, let me also thank Ms. Suica for virtually being with us today, and for her statement. We are all aware of that demographic trends change slowly and hardly. Therefore, it will be difficult to make them altered positively in the long term. We are witnessing that the negative process has been going on for decades, bringing many consequences, such as aging population, a decline in childbearing, instability in relationships and inward migration. Long-term decisions made by member states and the EU and their consistent implementation are of paramount importance for a population-retaining, population-maintaining society and for the future of Europe. There is no doubt that recently, demographic change is one of the biggest challenges that European regions and cities are facing. I was given the honourable task from the SEDEC Committee to draft the COR opinion on demographic change. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted our work on the COR opinion before the demographic report of the European Commission was published. Changing and longer-living the population, changing fertility patterns, conversion of parenting intentions, brain drain, internal and external migration, especially mostly affected young people, and loss of human capital have a dramatic and negative impact on population and consequently, the society, economy, innovation, technology, environment and not at least regions. Sustainable development and inclusive economic growth requires an adequate population size. Free movement of people is one of the fundamental principles of the EU, facilitating the labour mobility within the Union. The uneven distribution of highly skilled workers and the growing competition for talents has led to a brain-dain dilemma. Some regions are experiencing a significant out-migration of their highly educated workforce for the benefit of other regions. Many rural areas in Europe facing the problem of population decline because of the movement to cities. And when it comes to raising children, young women cannot be forced to choose between work and family, or women must be guaranteed the right to a work and life balance. Child raising is a long-term endeavour, therefore the demographic policies also have to be effective, reliable and enduring. Mean age of women at childbirth has been steadily increasing in recent decades, and in many cases, postponing childbearing has not been replaced. In this way, supporting families as an internal resource is important for the demographic renewal of the European Union. Families tend to abandon previously wanted children and thus actually have fewer children. This causes the fertility gap. As long as the fertility intentions, the desired number of children and the final fertility rate, the actual number of children, can be approximated, more emphasis should be placed on supporting childbirths. Myself as the COI reporter on the opinion on demographic change, I do believe that the report on the impact of demographic change is a milestone, in the sense that accurate mapping of demographic trends and understanding the phenomena requires horizontal solutions. It will also notably serve as a good background for the upcoming green paper on aging and long-term vision for rural areas. Thank you for your attention.