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
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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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BRU - Tel: +32 (0)2 2845863 Fax: +32 (0)2 2849863
STR - Tel: +33 (0)3 88 175863 Fax: +33 (0)3 88 179863
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Cornelis Bos
Phone: +32 470 47 31 83
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Links:
[1] http://eppgroup.eu/mep/16647?usebuid=1630
[2] mailto:ria.oomen-ruijten@europarl.europa.eu?usebuid=1630
[3] mailto:cornelis.bos@europarl.europa.eu