Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-04-02-Speech-1-088"
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"en.20010402.7.1-088"2
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". – Mr President, Mrs Randzio-Plath has, on behalf of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, raised questions on a particularly important issue, namely the Community initiatives on the future of pension systems.
I agree with Mrs Randzio-Plath on her first question. The proposal for a pension fund directive is a first important step in the direction of cross-border membership of pension funds. It must be supplemented by further initiatives. As the explanatory memorandum to the proposed directive sets out, for cross-border membership it should be possible for companies and employees to obtain tax relief on contributions paid to funds in other Member States. This aspect will be the subject of a separate initiative by the Commission.
The second question is what the Commission will do to make cross-border membership of pension funds a reality. First of all, it is a priority for the pension fund directive to be adopted by Council and Parliament. However as a corollary to the pension fund directive, the Commission will adopt a communication on the elimination of tax obstacles to the cross-border provision of occupational pensions. The adoption of the communication is now scheduled for two weeks' time. It is necessary to secure the elimination of discriminatory treatment against pension institutions established in other Member States.
Many Member States give better treatment, in terms of tax deduction for contributions and taxation of benefits, to schemes operated by institutions established within their own territory. That poses a major obstacle to the cross-border movement of workers, and European businesses as well. It effectively closes off the pension markets of many Member States. Furthermore, Mrs Randzio-Plath asks whether the Commission thinks that it should be tabling legally binding initiatives and, if not, how the Commission could still ensure that cross-border membership would become a reality. As I said, the Commission is in the process of adopting a communication. This communication will make clear that the most urgent obstacles to labour mobility and cross-border pension provisions can be overcome without secondary legislation, by enforcing the Treaty rules which are already in place. I hope that you will appreciate that until the communication has been adopted by the Commission I hesitate to go into detail of its content. I shall be very happy to discuss those with you and how the communication should and could be implemented after its adoption by the Commission. I can, however, assure you that I see the elimination of tax obstacles to labour mobility and cross-border pension provisions as an absolute priority."@en1
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