The European Parliament has urged member states to bolster multi-tier pension provision and ensure public pensions help people to achieve a decent standard of living.

Noting that the economic crisis has highlighted vulnerability of both funded and unfunded schemes, its non-binding resolution, “deplores the severe cuts in the Member States hardest hit by the financial crisis that have pushed many pensioners into, or at-the-risk of poverty”.

The European Parliament has urged the EU and member states to look to best practice and policies for secure pensions and has urged a multi-pillar approach. However, it notes, “first-pillar, public pension schemes remain the most important source of income for pensioners”.

Safeguarding public pensions that guarantee decent living standards must remain a priority, says the resolution. It also regrets that the European Commission White Paper last February “does not properly address the importance of universal, at least poverty-proof, first-pillar public schemes”.

Other lines in the resolution call for increasing employment rates, for example by phasing out early retirement, to fund adequate pensions, and for measures to ensure those working abroad acquire and preserve occupational pension entitlements across the EU.

Dutch member of the European Parliament and the rapporteur for the resolution Ria Oomen-Ruijten said during the debate: “One third of the EU population is over 55 years old. The sustainability of pension schemes is threatened by demographic ageing and strained public finances. Pension provision is the responsibility of member states but EU coordination is necessary, notably in the context of stability and reform programmes.”

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