The European Commission has warned Germany it must consider the potentially detrimental impact of state pension reforms to the development of occupational pensions in the country.
Releasing country-specific recommendations for reform, the Commission also called on the Netherlands to consider the intra and inter-generational fairness of its second-pillar reforms and urged Malta to address concerns that its retirement age remained “disconnected” from longevity increases.
Current Commission president José Manuel Barroso noted that 19 EU member states had seen the rising cost of old-age care and pensions highlighted as a matter of concern.
The papers, drafted for every member state except bailout recipitents Greece and Cyprus, argued that proposals by the current German coalition government to allow for retirement at 63 would put “additional strain” on the sustainability of the country’s state pension system.
