International

SP-Euro-MP Dennis de Jong today won overwhelming support from the European Parliament’s Internal Market Committee for his proposed official parliamentary ‘Opinion’ on the future of pensions in Europe. ‘What struck me above all was that the members of the committee did not comment on the raising of the pension age, but that they insisted that emphasis must lie on a decent and secure pension for all,’ says De Jong. In addition, they were concerned to see member states remain responsible for their own pensions.

De Jong has received a number of disturbing indications from people in the Netherlands. “Many people are afraid that Europe is going to interfere with pension ages. Dutch pension funds are primarily worried about the opinion of many Euro-MPs that pensions should be transferable. I hope that my Opinion has been able to quell both fears.” The conclusion of the Internal Market Committee was that transferability should ideally be possible, but that first all technical difficulties and other problems must be identified.

The European Parliament is concerned to see everyone in Europe able to see in a straightforward fashion just what pension rights they have built up, even if these have been acquired in different member states. “That’s exactly what the Dutch public wants,” says De Jong. “Just as in the Netherlands there is a website which allows you to calculate your entitlement – and this has been a huge success since it was opened – we should also have such an instrument at European level.”