Brussels, 13/12/2002 (Agence Europe) - At the initiative of Anna Diamantopoulou, the Commission is to approve, on Tuesday, a first political and global analysis of the EU pension systems and their capacity to face up to the challenge of an ageing population. The joint Commission-Council report shows that all Member States, albeit at varying degrees, have launched reform to guarantee that, in future, older persons will have sufficient income without compromising public finance and without overloading future generations. Once adopted, the report will be forwarded to the Spring Council 2003 (21 March in Brussels). Member State tables will be published next Monday.
The message of this report "which is not a hit parade of Member States on this", is that sustainability is very important and access to a liveable pension is also important, Andrew Fielding, spokesperson for Ms Diamantopoulou, stressed. He added that, what the Commission is pinpointing, is the fact that the architecture of pension systems is not able to follow labour market flexibility. The current systems punish mobile workers, those under fixed duration contracts, part-time or temporary workers, and women, who may suffer loss of coverage during certain periods of their lives.
At the present time, there are four persons at working age for one person over 65 in the EU. In 2050, there will only be two, the spokesperson stressed. In most States, spending on pensions will considerably increase from 2015. On the basis of legislation in force in 2000, in the Europe of Fifteen, spending should go from 10.4% of GNP in 2000 to 13.3% in 2050.