Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-09-23-Speech-2-291"
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"en.20030923.8.2-291"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I too would like to congratulate the rapporteur. I would like to begin by saying that retirement, while still being a technical/legal and economic/actuarial issue, has become an issue of the greatest media interest and has won the status as a central issue within policy in general, and within social policy in particular.
Back in 1950, the age of sixty was regarded as the threshold of old age; the age of 65 implied retirement from active working life, and not to have a will drawn up by the age of seventy would unquestionably have been considered recklessly irresponsible. We can conclude from this that the population of our current society, which has doubled by the end of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, includes many people of a very advanced age, who until recently were classified as ‘old people’, and those older people have a strong social image, they are real, they have active lives and have good reason to hope to continue living.
Within this context, a long-term perspective is necessary in the field of pensions and, despite the fact that dealing with pensions and pension policy are essentially the responsibility of the Member States, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, the European contribution appears to be necessary, both in the exchange of best practices and in increasing consensus, and in the common regulation of certain aspects necessary in order to ensure the possibility of transferring pension rights of all types and their viability.
Pension systems through public schemes linked to income – first pillar – through private professional schemes – second pillar – and individual retirement pension funds – third pillar – must offer Europeans the opportunities to maintain their standard of living following retirement.
A system which prevents or hinders the free movement of people must therefore be excluded, as must the European citizens’ fear of ageing or physical or psychological deterioration. In the face of the weight of the third pillar, fear must be alleviated and business interests excluded. The viability of the pension system must be guaranteed, and it must respond to changes in society and in the ways in which production is organised: the greater presence of women, an older active population and atypical forms of contract."@en1
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