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Boost for pensions of cross-border workers

Date

15 Apr 2014

Sections

Social Europe & Jobs

Europeans working in another Member State can now enjoy minimum rights for their pensions abroad. Supplementary pension rights will no longer disappear if one works longer than 3 years in another Member State.

"A genuine improvement for many workers. This is a big step for the free movement of workers and a boost for a social Europe", stated Rapporteur Ria Oomen-Ruijten MEP. Her Report is set to be adopted tonight in the European Parliament.

As soon as this decision enters into force, EU workers will already start building a pension at the age of 21. At the moment, the age is 25 in some Member States. Besides, people often have to participate in a scheme for at least five years in order to get pension rights; this vesting period will be lowered to three years.

"A good pension is a necessity now that Europeans can expect to live much longer", Oomen-Ruijten stated. By 2060, the share of those aged 65 and over is projected to rise from 17% to 30% of the population. The pension built up by contributions from the employer and the employee is often a useful addition to the state pension and personal savings.

The proposal took a very long time to finalise. The text was presented by the European Commission back in 2005. The legislation was blocked in the Council for many years, until Rapporteur Oomen-Ruijten reached an agreement in 2013. This is the last Report of outgoing MEP Oomen-Ruijten, after being a Member of the European Parliament for 25 years.

 
Note to Editors
 
 
The EPP Group is by far the largest political group in the European Parliament with 274 Members from 27 Member States.
 
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