Today the European Commission issued its Green Paper towards adequate, sustainable and safe European pension systems. The Green Paper seeks views from interested parties and the deadline for responses is 15 November 2010.
What does the Green Paper aim to do?
Against the backdrop of demographic ageing and the additional challenges brought by the financial and economic crisis, the Green Paper seeks the views of all stakeholders in the EU on whether, and how, the EU level pension framework should be adjusted to best support Member States in ensuring they achieve their agreed goal of adequate and sustainable pensions for EU citizens.
What are the main issues up for discussion?
There are three main themes:
- How the EU can best support Member States as they seek to balance periods spent in work with periods spent in retirement, taking account of structural changes in societies and labour markets and of rising life expectancy. This links closely to the Commission's Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth;
- the Commission is concerned to remove obstacles to the mobility of workers as well as capital, resulting from pension arrangements, including supplementary pension schemes; and
- ensuring the safety of pensions now and in the future. The Commission is keen to explore mitigating risk and volatility for workers and pensioners and to ensure funded pension systems are secure and strike the right balance between efficiency and safety.
To download the Green Paper and the Staff Working Document please click on the links below:
To respond to the Commission you can use the following website.
To coincide with the launch of the Green Paper the EFRP (European Federation for Retirement Provision) has set up a new website: www.eupensiondebate.eu which invites specialists and citizens to join the debate by posting their opinions, reactions and suggestions for papers. Comments on the Green Paper can also be submitted to this website at your comments to EUpensiondebate.eu.
After a Green Paper, the Commission normally publishes a Feedback Statement which summarises the different responses received. Often the Commission establishes later in the process special Working Groups or Expert Groups to look at specific issues more in detail.
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