Activities of Marije CORNELISSEN related to 2012/2234(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on an agenda for adequate, safe and sustainable pensions
Amendments (32)
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph A
Paragraph A
A. whereas the ageing of the population threatens to place a effects of an ageing population on the sustrainability onf public spending on social protection, sincfinances must be evaluated; whereas future pgenserations account for the largest proportion of such expenditureshould be able to benefit from adequate pension systems;
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph A a (new)
Paragraph A a (new)
Aa. whereas in the current European debate, pension schemes are too often considered as a mere burden on public finance instead of essential instrument to combat old-age poverty and allow for redistribution over a lifetime of the individual and across society;
Amendment 27 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Stresses that in several Member States there is an urgent need to reform pension systems to take account of economic and demographic trends and improve Europe's growthin order to cope with population developments and changing labour markets, underlines that reforms need to be socially just and strengthen solidarity mechanisms and gender equality; underlines that reforms should involve social partners and relevant stakeholders and be prospectrly communicated to the citizens;
Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Stresses that pension policy is a key element of social policy, equally stresses that pensions are a mechanism of direct financial solidarity between generations as well as an investment in the future;
Amendment 31 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that the principle of equal treatment between women and men is applied consistently in pension insurance schemes and especially occupational pension schemes are not discriminatory against women so that they do not reinforce existing patterns that already put women at a disadvantage in terms of benefits and contributions;
Amendment 32 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1c. Calls on the Commission and the EU Member States to carry out comprehensive impact assessments on all social security reforms, especially pension systems which may have a negative impact on women's employment and pensions rights, such as cuts in daycare and eldercare facilities, pension policies etc;
Amendment 37 #
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; urges the Commission to come forward with the revision of the existing legislation as demanded by Parliament in its resolution adopted 13 March 2012; notes that, despite countless campaigns, targets and measures in recent years, the gender pay gap remains stubbornly wide;
Amendment 48 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to embrace a life-course approach to pension taking the whole span of a person's working life into account, including career interruption and changes;
Amendment 55 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Stresses that women's long average periods of part-time unemployment, lower wages, fewer average hours of work have profound consequences for women's earnings, social security allowances and not least, in the longer run, their pensions;
Amendment 58 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. WelcomesTakes note of the Commission's intention of encouraging the development of complementary private retirement savings with a view to increasing the income of retired people; stresses that this option is available only to persons who have an adequate income which would enable them to contribute to such systems and therefore can only play a limited role in providing a decent income; stresses that encouraging private retirement savings should not lead to tax advantages that come at the expense of solidarity based pension systems;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Regrets the lowering of pension benefits in many Member States as a consequence of the severe escalation of the financial and economic crisis; deplores the severe cuts in the Member States hardest hit by the crisis that have pushed many pensioners into poverty or put them at risk of poverty; calls on Member States to ensure that the most vulnerable are spared and to pay due attention to the interests of future generations when distributing the negative impacts of the crisis on pension benefits;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Emphasises the likelihood of a long- term, low-growth economic scenario, which will require Member States to consolidate their budgets and reform their economies under austere conditions; subscribes, therefore, to the view expressed in the Commission's White Paper that people will need to build up complementary occupational and if possible private pension savingregrets that the Commission has not fully recognized the importance of 1st pillar pensions as protection for the most vulnerable and the direct relation between poverty-proof first-pillar pensions and the EU's poverty targets;
Amendment 88 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Stresses that first-pillar pensions remain the most important source of income for pensioners; calls on Member States towhen implementing reforms to their first-pillar systems aligning contributory years toto address the changing ratio between pensioners and people in working age by increasing the employment rate via a range of measures, 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 −- to provide a universal decent minimum income above the poverty line ;
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 – introductory part
Paragraph 4 – introductory part
4. Observes that the crisis has revealed the vulnerability of both funded and pay-as- you-go pension schemes; recommends multi-pillar pension systems, consisting of at least: [...] calls on the Commission to ensure any existing or future regulation in the field of pensions to be conducive to multi-pillar pension schemes;
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 – point i
Paragraph 4 – point i
Amendment 117 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 – point ii
Paragraph 4 – point ii
Amendment 130 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 – point iii
Paragraph 4 – point iii
Amendment 137 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 – subparagraph 1
Paragraph 4 – subparagraph 1
Amendment 147 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Recognises the importance ofpotential of well- regulated pension funds as substantial and reliable long-term investors in the EU economy; emphasises their significance for achieving the Europe 2020 strategy's headline targets concerning sustainable economic growth, more and better jobs and attaining socially inclusive societies; urgescalls on the Commission not to jeopardise the investment potential of pension funds when introducing or changing EU regulatioto propose initiatives to ensure that pension funds contribute to sustainable, social and innovative investment in line with the EU2020 strategy; urges the Commission to put a priority on ensuring that pension funds are not exposed to undue risk and that there are safety mechanisms in place for the insolvency of pension funds; calls on the Commission to focus on protecting consumers by lowering the investment risks of pension funds and increasing stable returns, especially when reviewing the directive on the activities and supervision of institutions for occupational retirement provision;
Amendment 151 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Calls on Commission, Member States and social partners to ensure that young people are duly represented in the management of pension funds, and to ensure that any regulation of pension funds pays particular attention to the aim of providing adequate pensions to future generations resilient to financial market fluctuations/developments/shocks and demographic change;
Amendment 155 #
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 have the option of working longer, consensus between governments and social partners is paramount;
Amendment 161 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Is of the opinion that urgent action is needed in most Member States to make their pension systems more inclusive and to include into their schemes persons not in work, thereby broadening the base of both contributors and beneficiaries, including especially self-employed, persons living on non-work income and migrants; stresses the high risk of old age poverty for migrants from third countries and calls on the Commission and the Member States to improve portability provisions for migrants from third countries;
Amendment 166 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Welcomes the main thrust of the White Paper that suggestsregrets that in the White paper the Commission does not properly address the importance of universal poverty-proof first-pillar schemes in combating old age poverty; stresses that reducing poverty is an EU 2020 target and that pensioners are at a high risk of poverty across the EU; stresses that second and third pillar pensions are not available to the most vulnerable or persons with very low income and that shifting pensions systems there threatens the EU’s poverty targets; welcomes the fact that the White Paper focusinges on: balancing time spent in work and retirement; developing and safeguarding where they exist, solidarity- based complementary occupational and private pension savingpensions, and enhancing the EU's pension monitoring tools;
Amendment 177 #
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 toPoints to the risk of part-time work leading to only partial pension entitlements; calls on the Member States to put funds adequate, safe and sustainable pension schemes; points to the risk of part-time work leading to only partial pension entitlements; calls on the Member States to put funds asiside to combat the rising public costs of the retiring population; stresses the need to shift tax income from labour to environmental and capital taxation so as to support employment and re-stabilize public budgets, broaden to combat the rising public costs of the retiring populationhe tax base and creating a more just and equal sharing of burdens also in the social security system;
Amendment 197 #
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 healthy 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 consequences;
Amendment 204 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Reiterates the call for closely linking pension benefits to years worked and premiums paid (‘'actuarial fairness’), to ensure that working more and longer pays off for workers by having a bet') in the third pillar privater pensions; recommends that the Member States, in consultation with social partners,iterates that actuarial fairness allow individual workers, on a voluntary basis, to continue working after the statutory retirement age, as extending the period of premiums paid while at the same time shortening the period of benefit eligibility can help workers reduce any pension gaps at a fast pacene does not recognize that people who work less years or pay less premiums contribute fundamentally to society by for example caring responsibilities or volunteering;
Amendment 223 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Calls on the social partners to adopt a life-cycle approach to human resources management and to adapt workplaces; calls on employers to come up with programmes to ensure that employees can work longer; calls on workers to engage actively in available training opportunities and to keep themselves fit for the labour market at all stages of their working life; calls on the Commission and the Member States to embrace a life-course approach to pensions taking the whole span of a person's working life into account, including career interruptions and changes, as it is flexible enough to adapt to individuals and if it is well-managed it can provide for financial sustainability of public pension systems; stresses the need to improve the integration of older workers into the labour market, to adapt workplaces and to remove discrimination at both ends of the age span in the labour market, both for young and old workers;
Amendment 249 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. WelcomNotes the call in the White Paper for developing fundsolidarity-based, complementary occupational pensions and private savings; stresses, however, that providing that there are countries effectively willing to reform their pension systems as such, 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 269 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Regrets the wide dispersion in characteristics and outcomes across Member States' occupational pension schemes as regards access, solidarity, cost- effectiveness, risk and return; welcomes the Commission's intention, in close consultation with the Member States, social partners, the pension industry and other stakeholders, to develop a code of good practice for occupational pension schemes; calls on the Commission and the Member States to reduce barriers to access such as long vesting periods and age restrictions; stresses the need to remove discriminatory elements from the existing occupational pension schemes; points to the fact that some Member States have increased barriers to social security including pensions during the crisis and this runs directly counter a number of EU2020 targets;
Amendment 290 #
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 changing jobs within or outside their Member State not to have their mobility hampered by concerns about acquiring and preserving occupational 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 is hampered by long vesting periods and calls on Member States to lower those; stresses that the EU should take a role in supporting mobile workers so that they can take their occupational pension rights to the next employer;
Amendment 292 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Notes the Commission's proposal to assess possible linkages between Regulation 883/2004/EC on the coordination of social security systems and ‘'certain’' occupational pension schemes; highlights the practical difficulties experienced in applying the said regulation to the 27 Member States' markedly differing social security systems; points to the complexity of applying a coordination approach to the tens of thousands of very divergent pension schemes operating in the Member States, and therefore questions the practicability of applying such an approach in the field of but stresses the need to increase the portability of second pillar occupational pensions;
Amendment 299 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to work ambitiously to set up and maintain tracking services that enable citizens to track their employment- and non-employment-related pension entitlements and thereby make timely and well-informed decisions on additional, individual (third-pillar) pension savings; calls for coordination at EU level to ensure adequate compatibility of the national tracking services; welcomes the Commission's pilot project in this field; underlines however, that this initiative is no substitute for the portability of pensions rights;