IMPORTANT STEPS IN REFORMING EUROPE'S PENSION SYSTEM.

• Position: Brief Article

This month has seen some important steps forward in the field of pension reform. First of all, political agreement was finally reached on a proposal from the Internal Market Directorate-General of the Commission to allow pension funds to operate across Europe with a single "European passport". Then, two weeks later, the Employment and Social Affairs Directorate-General launched a consultation with social partners over reform of occupational pensions, as it had committed to do at the Stockholm European Council in March 2001.Reform of the outdated pension system is clearly needed - both to address the problems of an ageing population and worker mobility, and to support the development of a single European market. But change has been slow in coming, and Europe is still a long way from having a single, easily-transferable pension system.As usual, the problem is with the governments of EU Member States, who jealously guard their national pension systems, and do not want to see the EU step in and seize control. The European Commission prepared a working paper on pan-European pensions as far back as 1990. Over a decade later, after classic EU bickering among Member States, the Spanish Presidency...