Towards A Eu-Wide Market for Occupational Pensions.

Abstract

Pension policy is by far nationally embedded and systems differ in accordance with the socio-economic specificities and sensitivities of each country. Nevertheless, there is one general trend in policies across Europe; a constant shift from public pay-as-you-go to privately funded schemes, giving birth to various formulae of “complementary” or “supplementary” or, when work-related, “occupational” pensions. This shift is justified by the demographic ageing and its burden on national public finances, but it is also initiated by the European integration project itself, that increasingly calls for a “pension fund capitalism”. However, a genuine single market for occupational pensions remains a far-reaching goal and, in order to realize why, one has to go beyond the framework of the so-called pension funds Directive 2003/41/EC. Old Europe used to be divided ideologically and politically in Bismarck and Beveridge-type countries; it used to distinguish between “stakeholder” and “shareholder” economy. New Europe is the constant struggle for striking a fair balance. At a time when the frontiers between financial service providers are blurring, it is the constant interplay between regulators/supervisors and interest groups that will determine the degree of solidarity and security within funded schemes in an integrated financial services market.