PensionsEurope promotes good pensions for the people in Europe in all different shapes and forms, including private pensions. Personal pensions (or private pensions) are long-term savings products that individuals contribute to on a voluntary basis, complementing social security and workplace pensions.
The European Commission is exploring ways to increase choices for retirement saving and build an EU market for personal pensions. As part of the CMU action plan, the Commission believes that personal pensions have a role to play in linking long-term savers with long-term investment opportunities, helping to channel savings towards capital markets and benefit investment and growth in the EU. In June 2017 the Commission adopted a proposal for a regulation on a pan-European personal pension product (PEPP). The proposal is accompanied by a recommendation on the tax treatment of personal pension products, including the PEPP.
PensionsEurope has welcomed this initiative and believes that a European framework for voluntary personal pensions is particularly needed and useful for those who don’t have access to workplace pensions, as self-employed and workers in new forms of employment, or where personal pensions offered at the national level are not reliable or attractive. Moreover, the PEPP could be especially useful for young European citizens who have more and more often a career in multiple Member States.
PensionsEurope is working closely with the EU Institutions to ensure that the final outcomes of the negotiations will lead to the introduction of a pan-European pension product that meets the needs of people wishing to save for retirement and that represents a valuable investment opportunity for pension providers. If properly designed, the PEPP could contribute to the enhancement of complementary retirement savings in the EU.
In December 2017, the European Commission adopted the decision of setting up a High-level group of experts on pensions. This expert group is small and consists of only three members representing stakeholders in pensions, four academics, the EU level social partners, EIOPA and the European Commission.
The expert group will provide policy advice to the Commission on matters related to ways of improving the provision, safety through prudential rules, intergenerational balance, adequacy and sustainability of supplementary (occupational and personal) pensions.
PensionsEurope Secretary General / CEO Matti Leppala has been appointed to the group. Together with the other experts, he will be responsible of preparing an independent report providing analysis and policy advice related to the role of supplementary pensions in contributing to adequacy of old age incomes and the development of their market in the Union. Moreover, the group will contribute to the public debate on pensions and will promote the exchange of best practices and mutual learning in Member States in relation to the promotion of supplementary pensions, on a cross-border basis.
The meetings will be chaired by a representative of the Commission at Director level, provided alternatively by DG EMPL and DG FISMA.
Members have been appointed for a period of 18 months, and the Commission might decide to extend the duration of the activities of the group.
The first meeting took place in Brussels on September 14th.
For more information you can visit this webpage.
PensionsEurope is also working on the following issues:
- Code of Good Practice
- Portability
- Pension policy in the CEE region