Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-04-10-Speech-3-188"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20020410.6.3-188"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, I also would to thank our rapporteur. We all know that this is subject on which he feels very strongly – at last he has got his five minutes on it.
I would agree with much of what has already been said in this debate. When we are looking at safe and sustainable pensions, it is a particular problem for women. There is a very strong gender dimension to the pension issue. We see many severe disparities, especially in relation to occupational pensions and even State pension entitlements, where women are effectively penalised for taking on domestic responsibilities; for having worked part-time or flexibly. As new working patterns become more common, it is clear that we need to ensure that pension provision is guaranteed for both men and women in those different working environments. Perhaps, as is usually the case, once more men start working flexibly, we will suddenly see much more interest in pensions keeping up with different forms of work. That is maybe cynical if truthful.
It is also, as Mr Van Lancker has said, an issue, which touches very strongly on poverty. We already see in far too many countries, pensioners with an inadequate basic pension unable to participate fully in society and often unable to meet their basic needs. The key, of course, is decent State pensions, and funding them is a political choice. My group does not believe that pension costs will necessarily destabilise economies or society, if such choices on spending are made carefully. Indeed, the cases of people playing by the rules and investing either in their companies – with the Enron example before us or indeed in Equitable Life in my own country – and making private pension provision, show that you cannot trust the markets any more than you can sometimes trust governments. The democratic deficit in open co-ordination is also becoming even clearer. This is obviously an issue we need to address extremely rapidly."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples