EESC opinion: White paper on Pensions
With the number of pensioners growing faster than the working population and an economic crisis putting additional pressure on the national budgets, the EU Member States need to find ways of delivering fair, safe and sustainable pensions.
Following on from a consultation on European pensions systems in 2010, a new policy paper on sustainable pensions proposes mainly to link retirement age with life expectancy, restricting early retirement, to close the pension gap between men and women and to develop private pension schemes.
In its opinion on that White Paper, the EESC recommends that Member States focus their reform efforts on increasing the revenues that fund their pension systems by boosting employment, improving the mechanisms for collecting contributions, and tackling undeclared work and tax evasion.
Among other measures, it also calls on Member States to strengthen their public pensions systems, which are one of the most important components of the social security safety net, to bridge the gap in pension rights between men and women, which result from their unequal labour market participation, and to include pension income protection mechanisms in future legislation.
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