Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-04-10-Speech-3-184"
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"en.20020410.6.3-184"2
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"Commissioner, Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I think we are all aware that retirement provision with a secure future has become one of the greatest challenges to budgetary policy, social security provision, our policies in the social sphere, and hence to humanity, in our time. This is due to demographic developments, that is, the fact that the coming years will see around one-third of the population past pensionable age, and by reason of the fortunate increase in life expectancy.
We, the Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats, are right behind the Commission in its three main proposals for doing everything possible in order to achieve an appropriate level of pension, to ensure the financial sustainability of public and private means of retirement provision and to modernise pension systems, so that, in future, they too will be able to offer security despite changed overall conditions.
We are always talking about a great deal of mobility and flexibility, and about the internal market. Today, it must also be said loud and clear that mobility, flexibility and a functioning internal market presuppose social security – security for people when they are required to be mobile. As a group, too, we are very clearly in favour of extending the three-pillar model, meaning public systems, occupational systems involving both employers and employees, and private or individual schemes. What we are dealing with is the way in which all three pillars of the retirement provision system relate to each other. The load cannot be left to rest on one pillar alone.
Reference should also be made in this context to the differing competences that we have at present. Responsibility for the systems, for the way the pillars relate to each other, for tax law, for labour and social security law, falls on the nation states. Responsibility for the internal market, for mobility, for cross-border activities, lies at the European level. We therefore favour greater coordination, but not to the exclusion of politics and Parliament, bypassing us, as it were. Yes to coordination, but with codecision for those with political responsibility and for the citizens' representatives.
We are responsible for occupational retirement provision, and on a cross-border basis. This is an important aspect of the Action Plan for Financial Services. Again, in the Barcelona Final Document, there is the call for the second pillar to be regulated also on a European level. In July 2001, Parliament set out our position with over 460 votes. To this day, we are waiting for the Council's Common Position. Things have come to such a pass that the Commissioner responsible said yesterday, in an interview with the ‘Financial Times’, that he was withdrawing the Commission proposal, despite our calling on him for there to be a regulation in Europe, and even though Barcelona puts us under pressure of time. Of those who are competent and bear responsibility, we demand that they do what they have undertaken to do and set themselves a time limit. Let them at last act, or else new reports and resolutions will not help us, for action will be dragging its feet on the way to the political objectives.
Do something, Council!"@en1
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