Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-03-11-Speech-2-286"
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"en.20030311.11.2-286"2
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"Mr President, I congratulate the rapporteur, the Commission and the presidency on producing a package of compromises. It has been an issue of compromise all the way through. I understand all the hard work that has been put into it, but let us say straight away that many people have been involved, inside and outside this Chamber, perhaps more than we know. However, the people who have not been involved - as is so often the case - are the people most likely to benefit or suffer from our decisions. Compromise was very necessary.
This is not a directive aimed at replacing the first pillar social security-type pension provision. In the UK, for example, people aged 16 have recently been outnumbered by people aged 60. Throughout the European Union this must leave no doubt in anybody's mind that we have an ageing society, one that will gradually cost more and must be adequately provided for so as to avoid future pensioner poverty, a very real risk. The problem is that many people, even today, do not feel obliged or encouraged to save for their retirement. Many companies are hamstrung by administrative and legal costs prohibiting the promotion of such funds across the European Union. That is a statement of fact.
Even though this directive delivers a balanced view, taking into account the various factors affecting Member States, it is clear that the cross-border approach to supplementary pensions needs more in the way of liberalising articles. I hope that we will come back to this discussion at a later date.
Some companies in my country which believe that they can pull out of defined benefit schemes have even looked to this particular directive as an excuse, but Brussels gives no such excuse to those companies.
Lump sum payments have been dealt with in a way that pensioners in many countries will feel is a reflection of what already occurs. That is an important minimum.
It is clear that the changes we have introduced on transparency and registration are improvements that everyone in this House can live with."@en1
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