More than 90 debates have passed, and political journalist Leendert Beekman thinks the finish line is now very much in sight. “So it’s a lot of money: 1.5 trillion euros,” he says. “But it looks like it will pass. The coalition is in favor and GroenLinks and PvdA appear to be helping the coalition win a majority in the Senate.’
But, according to Beekman, it is. “The rest of the House is very critical,” he continues, citing Liane den Haan van GOUD as an example. In today’s parliamentary debate, he said many pension experts see many bottlenecks in the plan. This includes pension scientist Roel Mehlbach of Tilburg University. “If I had written the law, I would have written it differently,” he says. “I would vote for it, because there are more advantages than disadvantages, but I would have kept things a little simpler.”
More or less retirement?
While many people still don’t seem to have a clear idea of what the new pension system will deliver, Mehlbach likes to nuance the current situation. “Of course there were a lot of discussions,” he says. “Proponents of the system say it’s getting better, while critics say it’s getting worse. In my opinion, both images are exaggerated.’
Mehlbach points out that the total pension amount of 1.5 trillion will remain the same, only that the breakdown will be slightly different. ‘Most importantly we will redistribute the pot so that there is less tug of war in the future. And that creates tensions, because that happens when money is distributed. And it is the same in the Chamber, because it is not a pleasant parliamentary debate.’
Everyone is its victim
Words that Beekman can confirm. “There are really a lot of concerns, but if you listen like this, everyone can actually fall victim to the new system,” he continues. ‘Young, old, but the biggest concerns are with the middle group. The over 45s. And this is due to the abolition of the average system».
Mehlbach agrees with Beekman: “The abstract formulation of this term is that people between the ages of 25 and 45 are somewhat disadvantaged in the current system,” he says. ‘And people are favored between the ages of 45 and 65. And it will be fairer under the new system. However, without compensation, 45-year-olds have been disadvantaged for twenty years and will no longer be favorites for the next twenty years. And therein lies a compensation issue.’
Compensation
And he concludes: ‘If we continued with the current system, the group of people who are now 45 years old would automatically receive compensation. The idea is that this will need to be offset during the transition, but no separate amount has been set aside for this. And therefore it will have to be negotiated differently with each fund, and this leads to discussion.’
The opposition in particular is now asking the minister for guarantees that no group will be disadvantaged. But according to Mehlbach, no such guarantee can be given. ‘You leave it to the social partners for each pension scheme. They have to understand it. Sure, the employer may pull something out of their back pocket, but not all employers are that wealthy. So in the end it will be necessary to find some money».