The Pension Issues in the new Member States
The enlargement of the European Union in 2004 offers an opportunity to compare the state of affairs related to pensions and more particularly to supplementary pensions – which are those in addition to state pensions (also called legal/first pillar/statutory pensions) – as they exist today in the 10 new Member States (NMS) with that in the original Member States (EU-15).
The purpose of this report is to encourage mutual learning by offering research, seeking responses and opinions from stakeholders from the NMS as well as experts from the EU-15. The captured opinions of 86 respondents, throughout the enlarged European Union to an in-depth questionnaire, help to identify best practices and to formulate a number of issues for further consideration. The stakeholders originate from all sub-sectors of the pensions industry, private and public sectors and generally express their personal view, which do not systematically reflect that of the official organisation they belong to. We have highlighted differences as well as similarities that came out of our findings with the sole purpose to stimulate debate and hopefully inspire readers.