The European Commission has suggested to the Member States to implement measures to increase labor market participation of older people to ensure the sustainability of pensions in the current economic crisis and an aging population. This was the main strategy advocated yesterday by the European Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, Laszlo Andor, presenting a document with which the EU executive aims to “open the social debate” on reform of pension systems in European countries.
In the coming years, the EU must choose between “having poorest pensioners” and “increased contributions to the pension system or have more people to work more for longer”, although the European Commissioner ideally “launch plans for long-term adjustment “based on current trends in the aging population and labor market participation, instead of” emergency measures “as” push to increase the retirement age. ”
Andor opted for increasing the participation of older people in the labor market or, what is the same, increasing the effective retirement age rather than legal. However, said the report from the Commission prefers a longer working life. ” The document notes that, to keep the dependency ratio in 2010 in the EU-the number of people of working age in proportion to the number of people above the average retirement-age, that age should be increased to 70 years 2060.
This hypothesis is based on population projections made with 2008 data by Eurostat, the EU statistical office. The number of retirees in the EU compared to the number of workers to finance their pensions “will bow in 2060″ so that the current situation “is not sustainable,” said Andor.
The commissioner also expressed his opposition to the “temptation to implement early retirement” you can have companies with financial difficulties. “It is a wrong solution,” said Andor, who suggested other measures such as “to promote lifelong learning” for workers to enhance their performance and ensure greater permanence in the labor market.
The document invites the social partners to submit their views on public consultation until 15 November. The European Commission will take into account the views collected to develop “guidelines and recommendations” for the pension reform, said Andor.
