On Thursday 4 April, MEPs meeting in Strasbourg approved by a comfortable majority (338 votes in favour, 143 against, 139 abstentions) the interinstitutional agreement reached at the end of 2018 on the creation of a controlled quality label for pan-European personal pension products (PEPP) (see EUROPE 12159/17).
“I think we have delivered what we promised: a true pan-European products that would be simple and safe and good for consumers”, said rapporteur Sophie in't Veld (ALDE, the Netherlands), hoping for a strong parliamentary majority in the plenary vote.
The agreement provides strong rights for consumers, including a right to information with mandatory advice, a right to portability and a default investment option, she said.
But not all MEPs were of the same opinion and were very divided during the vote. Disappointed by the weakening of the pan-European nature of the PEPP, the S&D group abstained en bloc.
“What the European Parliament is doing is a trifling matter given the damage caused by the ECB's monetary policy!” said Bernd Lucke (ECR, Germany) during the debate preceding the vote.
In his opinion, PEPP is an “immature” product that is “poorly tied up, too complicated, not transparent, too expensive”. In short, it will not be able to prove itself in European markets, according to Mr Lucke.
The GUE/NGL Group went further in its criticism by calling, without success (125 votes in favour, 480 against), for the rejection of the legislative proposal. “The privatisation of pension systems is a mistake”, said Martin Schirdewan (GUE/NGL, Germany).
The European Commission and the rapporteur condemned the “disinformation” spread about PEPP by some MEPs. “I’ve heard a lot of fake news during this debate”, said Mrs in't Veld.
“PEPP is clearly a third pillar product. It is complementary, individual and voluntary. It does not replace first or second pillars products”, she insisted several times.
On the same day, the European Parliament also adopted (358 votes in favour, 185 against, 53 abstentions) a resolution calling on the EU Council to develop proposals for incentives for PEPP savers, with a view to stimulating the use of a PEPP.
The resolution also suggests that Member States should grant the same tax relief to PEPP as they do to national individual retirement savings products, even in cases where the characteristics of PEPP do not fully correspond to all national criteria. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)