Activities of Inês Cristina ZUBER related to 2012/2234(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on an agenda for adequate, safe and sustainable pensions
Amendments (23)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph A
Paragraph A
A. whereas the ageing of the population threatens to place a strain on public spendproblem of pension system sustainability resides not so much in the demographic issue as in the issue of income redistribution, bearing oin social protection, since pensions account for the largest proportion of such expendituremind that the amounts allocated to pensions in the EU represent a minor part of Member State GDP;
Amendment 12 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A – indent 6
Recital A – indent 6
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A – indent 8
Recital A – indent 8
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Stresses that there is an urgent need to reform pension systems to take account of economic and demographic trends and improve Europe’s growth prospectspublic social security systems will be sustainable only if new forms and sources of financing statutory pension schemes are adopted, making social security contributions payable on all financial income, and applying fiscal reforms under which people who have higher incomes and profits will be required to make a more decisive contribution to public social security systems; stresses the risk of part-time work, most of which is done by women, leading to only partial pension entitlements; considers it necessary to provide equal rights to all workers, eliminating all forms of precarious employment and investing in the creation of permanent jobs and lifelong learning and professional training;
Amendment 34 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Reiterates the need for Member States to take measures to eliminate the pay differential between women and men; and put an end to all forms of precarious employment, investing in the creation of permanent jobs and lifelong learning and professional training:
Amendment 46 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Recognises the need to adjust retirement age to take account of increased life expectancy while improving access to lifelong learning, making it easier for people to reconcile the demands ofimprove the objective conditions for reconciling professional life and family and private life during women's working lives; stresses the importance of expanding the public health network and public support services for the elderly in order to ensure that ageing is a dignified profcessional, family and private life and promoting active ageing that is free from humiliation, discrimination or any form of violence against older women;
Amendment 51 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
Amendment 59 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. WelcomesNotes with concern the Commission’s intention of encouraging the development of complementary private retirement savings, with a view to increasing the income of retired people; hich will imply a downgrading of public social security systems and their underlying principle of inter-generational solidarity, whilst at the same time promoting the lucrative business of insurance companies and ending the universal nature of the public social security systems that guarantee access to ageing with dignity for all;
Amendment 60 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Stresses that first-pillar pensions remain the most important source of income for pensioners; urges Member States to guarantee first-pillar pensions so as to provide a fair income that will enable women to live with dignity without falling below the poverty threshold;
Amendment 62 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Urges Member States to comply with and enforce legislation on maternity rights so that women do not suffer disadvantages in terms of pensions because they have been mothers during their working lives;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Stresses that first-pillar pensions remain the most important source of income for pensioners; calls onurges Member States to implement reforms to their first-pillar systems aligning contributory years to the changing ratio between pensioners and people in working age, also to prevent public pension costs crowding out other important government spending; calls on the Member States to ensure first-pillar pensions - if necessary complemented by minimum income provisions - toguarantee first-pillar pensions so as to provide a fair income that will enable people to live with dignity without falling below the provide a decent minimum incomeerty threshold;
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Stresses that the sustainability and improvement of pension systems are obviously conditioned by the first pillar, as the financial crisis has shown; urges that pension systems need to be reformed, upholding universal and supportive public social security systems able to guarantee decent retirement conditions for all, reflecting true inter-generational solidarity;
Amendment 154 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Is of the opinion that to arrive at a comprehensive solution to the pension challenge, taking into account the need to work longer, to adapt working conditions and lifelong learning so as to enable people to work longer, consensus between governments and social partners is paramount;
Amendment 165 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Welcomes the main thrust ofNotes with concern that the White Paper that suggests focusing on: balancing time spent in work and retirement; developing complementary occupational and private pension savings, and enhancing the EU’s pension monitoring toolswhich implies a downgrading of public social security systems and their underlying principles of inter-generational solidarity;
Amendment 174 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Amendment 179 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Stresses that implementing structural reforms aimed at having people work more and longer is the only feasible way to generate the tax revenues and social and pension premiums needed to consolidate Member State budgets and to fund adequate, safe and sustainable pension schTakes the view that the problem of pension system sustainability resides not so much in the demographic issue as in the issue of income redistribution, bearing in mind that the amounts allocated to retirement pensions in the EU represent a minor part of Member State GDP; stresses that public social security systems will be sustainable only if new forms and sources of financing statutory pension schemes are adopted, making social security contributions payable on all financial income, and applying fiscal reforms under which people who have higher incomes and profits will be required to make a more decisive contribution to public social security systemes; points tohighlights the risk of part- time work leading to only partial pension entitlements; callis con the Member States to put funds aside to combat the rising public costs of the retiring populationvinced of the need to provide equal rights to all workers, eliminating all forms of precarious employment and investing in the creation of permanent jobs and lifelong learning and professional training;
Amendment 193 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Emphasises the acceleration of the pressure posed by demographic developments on national budgets and pension systems now that the first cohorts of the ‘baby boom generation’ retire; notes the uneven progress and levels of ambition across Member States in formulating and implementing structural reforms aimed at raising employment, phasing out early retirement schemes and putting both the statutory and effective retirement age on a sustainable footing with increases in life expectancy; stresses that Member States that fail to implement gradual reforms now may at a later stage find themselves in a scenario where they have to implement reforms shock-wise and with significant social consequenceTakes the view that the problem of pension system sustainability resides not so much in the demographic issue as in the issue of income redistribution, bearing in mind that the amounts allocated to retirement pensions in the EU represent a minor part of Member State GDP; stresses the importance, at this juncture, of introducing gradual reforms through the adoption of new forms and sources of financing statutory pension schemes, making social security contributions payable on all financial income, and applying fiscal reforms under which people who have higher incomes and profits will be required to make a more decisive contribution to public social security systems;
Amendment 215 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Stresses that the assumption behind early retirement schemes, whereby older workers are allowed to retire early so as to make jobs available for the young, has been proven empirically wrong as the Member States displaying the highest youth employment rates, on average, are also the ones displaying the highest employment rates for older workers;
Amendment 245 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. WelcomNotes the call in the White Paper for developing funded, complementary occupational pensions and private savings; stresses, however, that the Commission should rather recommend collective mandatory occupational pension savings, as collective (second pillar) pension systems - usually governed by (sectoral) social partners - allow for solidarity within and between generations, whereas individual schemes do not; stresses the need to start building up complementary occupational pension systems now, despite the crisis;
Amendment 282 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Supports the Commission’s intention to continue to target EU funding – notably through the European Social Fund (ESF) – to support projects aimed at active and healthy ageing in the workplace, and, through the Community Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity (Progress) and the Programme for Social Change and Innovation (PSCI), to provide financial and practical support to Member States and social partners considering to gradually implement cost-effective supplementary pension schemes;
Amendment 285 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Recognises the significant heterogeneity of pension schemes across the EU yet emphasises the importance for workers, whilst workers may need to changinge jobs within or outside their Member State not to hav, and stresses the need to guarantee theirat mobility hampered by conce workerns aboutre able to acquiringe and preserving occupationale pension entitlements; endorses the approach advocated by the Commission to focus on safeguarding the acquisition and preservation of pensions entitlements, aiming at ensuring that dormant pension rights of mobile workers are treated in line with those of active scheme members or those of retirees; is of the opinion that mobility on the labour market isthe rights of mobile workers are hampered by long vesting periods and calls on Member States to lower those;
Amendment 301 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. QuesPoints out that, in several Member States, researchers live in a precarious social and employment situation, as the need foy have no access to the general social security system; wonders whether an EU pension fund is needed for researchers;