Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-09-07-Speech-2-504"
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"en.20100907.32.2-504"2
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"The last decade has seen major reforms of pension systems and these are continuing in most Member States.
Adequate pensions therefore means ensuring that older people are not placed at risk of poverty and that they can maintain their standard of living to a reasonable degree after retirement.
Given the current pressure on pension systems and the problems with alternatives – such as higher taxes on pension contributions or poorer pensioners – the Member States need to consider the role that more people working more and longer can play in ensuring pensions are both adequate and sustainable.
The Commission has always stressed that pension reform is essential but cannot suffice on its own. Workers must have both the opportunity and the capacity to work more and somewhat longer in order to acquire adequate pension rights.
This means fighting labour market discrimination against older workers, opening job markets for them, providing training and skill updates throughout their careers, adapting working conditions to the needs of people at different stages of life and ensuring that workers’ health and safety conditions improve.
Much greater efforts are needed here, and Europe 2020 provides a framework for such efforts. I hope the Member States will set their sights high in their first national reform programmes.
The current European framework for pensions – which spans everything from policy coordination to regulation – should be updated in the light of population change, the setbacks and lessons stemming from the crisis and changes in national pension systems.
With our Green Paper on Pensions published on 7 July, the Commission has opened a Europe-wide debate on whether and how the European Framework for Pensions should be developed to ensure our pensions are adequate, sustainable and safe.
The Green Paper does not dispute the fact that the design of pension systems is largely a Member State responsibility. Instead, it seeks to contribute to the debate on the EU’s added value for pensions.
It looks at how the EU can support the Member States in their efforts to adjust their policy and make pensions adequate for the future. And it discusses the options for a more robust European Framework for Pensions.
The Green Paper is an opportunity to canvass the views of all those with an interest in pensions – not just the Member States, but also employers and trade unions who play a key role in some pension schemes and, of course, the European Parliament. This will ensure that any measures we propose are based on solid evidence, are effective and proportionate, and fully respect the principle of subsidiarity.
The Commission supports, monitors and assesses the impact and implementation of national reforms through the open method of coordination with a view to developing pension systems that are adequate, sustainable, as well as modern and transparent.
Current work to monitor and assess pension systems in the EU includes the Joint Review on Pensions by the Economic Policy Committee and the Social Protection Committee.
The Joint Review on Pensions takes stock of the results of the last decade of pension reform and assesses progress made in the light of the setbacks due to the crisis and the bigger challenge to deliver pensions against a background of lower employment, lower growth, faster ageing and a much worse fiscal situation.
The Council adopted an interim report in June and a final report with country profiles should be adopted at the end of the year.
The Commission also works closely with Member States on a wide range of issues relating to pension systems and pension reform. For instance, annual joint reports and peer reviews offer advice and recommendations tailored to the situation in individual Member States.
To measure progress towards achieving adequate and sustainable pensions, the Member States, together with the Commission, have developed a set of indicators within the Social Protection Committee. These will also be used under Europe 2020 to assess the adequacy and sustainability of Member States’ social protection and pension systems.
Pension reform needs to be based on solutions that preserve the adequacy – and sustainability – of pensions, and which are not carried out at the expense of the elderly and the socially most vulnerable.
In his political guidelines last September, President Barroso said ‘we need to ensure that pensions do the job intended to provide the maximum support to current and future pensioners, including for vulnerable groups’."@en1
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