Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-06-20-Speech-3-008"
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"en.20070620.2.3-008"2
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"Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the portability of occupational pensions is an issue that has been on the European agenda for over 20 years. The Commissioner has just explained the developments that have taken place in that time, including in respect of migrant workers. Following the failure of an initiative under the so-called social partnership procedure in 2002/2003, the European Commission tabled a proposal for a ‘portability directive’ in October 2005.
The Commission’s proposal comprises the following four key areas: firstly, the transfer of occupational pension rights in the form of a capital sum when there is a change of employer, that is portability in the narrow sense of the word; secondly, stipulating vesting periods for eligibility for occupational pensions; thirdly, the fair and just treatment of eligibility for an occupational pension when a worker leaves a company, and fourthly, information requirements to ensure that workers know about their eligibility and can better plan for their retirement. As Commissioner Špidla said, this also affects the issue of flexicurity.
The directive regulates part of social and labour law and – it is important to stress this – it therefore needs unanimity. This, as much as anything else, got the negotiations off to a very difficult start, although with such a highly complex subject it was hardly surprising. In addition, the European Union does not just wear one size of suit; there is huge variety and almost every Member State has its own occupational pension system that usually does not fit the others.
The central regulatory area of the directive, the transfer of occupational pension capital to a new employer, was therefore considered to be highly problematic by many Member States. The Netherlands rejected this possibility from the outset. As early as the Finnish Presidency portability in the narrow sense of the word was therefore deleted from the proposal for a directive. The need for unanimity made it pointless to continue negotiations on this point.
The subsequent German Presidency focused on fleshing out the details of just and fair treatment, the arrangements for the information requirement and the scope of the directive in terms of both substance and timing. After intensive discussions and many bilateral meetings at technical level, it was possible to reach an agreement on all points. Ultimately, however, the necessary unanimity was not achieved in the Council of Ministers, which I very much regret. One Member State in particular found its hands politically tied when its parliament and cabinet rejected the proposals.
Given these fundamental political reservations on the design of the original proposal, it would most probably also be very difficult to achieve the necessary unanimity for the directive in the future as well.
Through this directive we want to promote workers’ mobility. At the same time, however, we also need to improve their retirement provision. To do so we not only need majority support from the European Parliament but also the agreement of the 27 Member States. Perhaps we will achieve more if the first step is less ambitious. It takes time for the necessary trust to grow, for the countries without occupational pension schemes to introduce them and for the countries with distinctive systems not to feel cheated. In this situation I believe that maximum demands are counterproductive. All they actually do is provoke automatic rejection in the Member States and they do not allow progress to be made. As with all decisions in the European Union, agreement is only possible if everyone first has the political will to agree."@en1
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