18/08/2011
By Ilonka Oudenampsen
Since 1 June, European pensioners who have worked in the Netherlands during their career have lost up to €400 due to a new savings measure by the Dutch government.
Until recently, pensioners with a legal Dutch state pension would get an extra €33.09 per month to compensate purchasing power. Under European law, all Europeans who have worked in the Netherlands fall under this rule.
By qualifying part of the pension as a fiscal measure, rather than a social measure, the Dutch government is now trying to get around these rules, according to members of the Flemish social democratic party SP.A Kathleen van Brempt and Vincent Kolen.
According to EU law, member states always need to pay out all social benefits which a European employee built up by working in that country. Kolen said that due to changing the social measure into a fiscal one, 280,000 European pensioners, 57,000 of whom live in Belgium, lose out on about €400 a year.
Meanwhile, 2.5 million Dutch pensioners remain unaffected, as they now get a fiscal discount instead.
The SP.A has sent a complaint to the European Commission about unequal treatment based on place of residence. Van Brempt has received confirmation from Eurocommissioner Andor that “social security benefits cannot be suspended, changed or reduced because the recipient lives in another member state”. Andor’s administration is looking into the case, Van Brempt has said.
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