JOINT PRESS RELEASE
No 22/2015
26 March 2015
A European Pension Tracking Service is feasible
TTYPE project publishesfinal report for the European Commission with a set of recommendations and a high level design for a cross-border European tracking service.
26 March 2015, 1p.m.
The TTYPE project (Track and Trace Your Pensions in Europe) handed over its report on the roadmap towards creating a general pension tracking service in Europe to the European Commission after it had beenpresented at a conference, organised together with the European Economic and Social Committee in Brussels. It shows that it is feasible to establish a cross-border pension tracking service to the benefit of not only mobile workers wanting to keep track of their pension entitlements but also to the benefit of pension providers who need to keep in contact with their beneficiaries. The final report from the TTYPE project gives a set of detailed recommendations on how to achieve this and what methods to use.
Marianne Thyssen, European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility:
“I warmly welcome the work of the project partners from the Netherlands, Denmark and Finland. We are committed to helping them keep up the momentum and develop the network that the Track and Trace Your Pension in Europe project has built up. The project is closely linked to the policy priorities of the European Commission.Helping EU citizens to keep track of their pension rights — wherever they are in the EU — is important. It helps to make freedom of movement a reality. Mobile workers often lack an overview of their pension rights which they need in order to make informed choices about their careers and saving needs.”
Martin Siecker, President of the EESC's Section for the Single Market, Production and Consumption:
“More and more European employees are internationally mobile in the labour market - they move from one country to another, or they may work with companies working on a cross-border basis in the EU. Such jobs will today very often include a pension. But employees' pensionsare scattered across various countries and different schemes and, as a result, employees may lose information on their pension rights. It is equally important for workers and for pension providers to keep track of their pension contributions and I hope that the TTYPE project is the first step towards creating a general pension tracking service in Europe.”
Harry Vossebeld, chairman of the TTYPE steering committee and member of the Executive Committee of PGGM:
“It was an exciting and serious challenge for the TTYPE consortium to make proposals for digital pension communication at European level. During the last 18 months, we have explored the feasibility of doing so. Today’s report shows that a cross-border European tracking service for pensions can be established and that both beneficiaries and pension providers can benefit. There is still a lot of work to be done before a service can actually be set up. However, we have received so much support for our ideas from all over Europe, and we feel comfortable that a next step can be taken with the help of experienced partners.”
Learn more about TTYPE and find reports, presentations and videos from the event held in Brussels on 26 March 2015 at the conference website: #TTYPE
Contact
EESC: Siana Glouharova, EESC Press Unit, , Tel.: +32 2 546 9276
TTYPE: Claus Skadhauge, , Tel.: +45 4030 4549.
About TTYPE
The EU white paper on pensions underlines the importance of pension tracking across Europe. Since autumn 2013, TTYPE has been working towards a set of recommendations for the European Commission on establishing an EU-wide tracking service to help European citizens – especially those working on a cross-border basis – to keep track of their pensions. The project delivers a high level design for such a service and recommendations for its establishment.