European Parliament Adopts Report on Adequate and Sustainable Pensions
Date: 24-9-2003
In an own-initiative report on adequate pensions adopted today by the European Parliament with 453 votes in favour 61 against and 27 abstentions, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) begin by pointing out that the fundamental responsibility for pensions policy and financing remains with the Member States but that this in no way diminishes the value of the European contribution. They therefore welcome the close co-operation between the Member States in the area of pensions through the open method of co-operation. The House stresses the need, when looking at pensions policy, to strike a balance between social and financial concerns. Any analysis should therefore focus clearly on the extent to which pensions systems contribute to intra- and inter-generational solidarity. The report concludes that public pensions schemes, due to their inherently strong redistributional effects, remain vital in providing for a socially acceptable allocation and distribution of income for pensioners.
The report adds that full employment, with quality jobs in a healthy and safe working environment, is the best way to ensure the sustainability of pensions. MEPs support the Commission's aim of increasing the effective retirement age but call for this to be implemented by means of incentives rather than disincentives (such as drastic reductions in pension values). They see an opportunity to maintain the fairness of statutory pensions by increasing the flexibility of the pensionable age and the transition from work to retirement.
The report also draws attention to societal changes, which must also be borne in mind when taking steps to modernise pensions systems. It points to the rise in the number of atypical and mobile workers, who are not well covered by pensions systems, and calls for procedures to be developed to protect them and guarantee them fair old-age insurance. The Parliament also calls on the Member States to eliminate from their pensions systems any remaining forms of discrimination on grounds of sex and to increase the level of employment among women at equal pay levels. It also wants the Member States to address the question of continuity of membership of pension systems during leave taken in order to care for children or other dependants, pointing out that it tended to be women who take carer's leave and that they should not therefore be penalised in terms of pension accrual.
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