破解老龄化之困:欧盟老年人权益的软法保护暨经验启示

Overcoming the dilemma of aging:the experience and inspiration of the application of EU soft law to protect the rights and interests of the elderly

老年人权益保护是破解人口老龄化之困的重要议题。根据相对典型的欧盟经验,在既有硬性法规作用有限、新的硬性法规又难以及时跟进的情势下,发挥好软法的独特优势之于老年人权益保护具有重要的工具意义和价值意义——软法既体现为向硬法演进的转化价值,也体现为柔性规范或价值规范的独立价值。欧盟各国老年人权益在一定程度上呈现出软法保护的样貌,欧盟经验对于破解我国人口老龄化之困具有一定的启示意义。

The protection of the rights and interests of the elderly in the context of aging is not only an increasingly severe worldwide public issue but also a core difficulty to overcome the dilemma of aging.According to the experience of the European Union,giving full play to the unique advantages of soft law has essential instrumental and value significance for the protection of the rights and interests of the elderly under the situation that the role of both hard laws and regulations is limited and the new hard laws and regulations are difficult to“follow up in time”.It is embodied as not only the transformation value of the evolution to hard law but also as the independent value of flexible norms or value norms,enabling the rights and interests of the elderly in the EU to present the appearance of“soft law protection”to a certain extent,which is of certain inspirational significance for overcoming China’s dilemma of aging.