The Dutch parliamentary elections of 22 November not only resulted in a historic victory for Geert Wilders. The record loss of the governing coalition also meant the new Pension Act no longer has majority support in parliament.
This is not immediately an issue, as the Senate still supports the switch. But the opposing parties, three of which are now in coalition negotiations, smell blood. They will do everything in their power to change the law, even though the reform is unlikely to be reversed.
The new political outfit NSC has been most vocal about what it wants to change. Its MP Agnes Joseph, a former pension actuary, has championed scheme ballots – all pension funds would ask their members if they want their DB pension accruals to be converted to DC capital. Accruals would be grandfathered if insufficient members agree.
Pensions minister Carola Schouten and most of the pension sector vehemently oppose the idea. It would lead to severe delays, as most pension funds would have to go back to the drawing board. And the transition is arguably too complex a topic for most people to form an opinion about.
Ballots also risk drawing a voter sample that’s not representative of a fund’s population: pensioners will be much more likely to cast their vote than younger people, simply because pensions matter more to them.
Supporters of ballots suffered a setback last month as Joseph retracted her motion calling for the minister to investigate options to grandfather accruals, due to a lack of support.
Opponents of the current law are divided. BBB and PVV seem to prefer the negotiation table rather than parliament to discuss the future of the pension law, while other, radical opponents just want the law gone, and think NSC’s proposals do not go far enough.
Meanwhile, Schouten can sit back patiently, knowing the time is ticking to her advantage. The opponents of the pension law are fighting an uphill battle: not only must they reach a consensus, they are also facing a hard deadline of 31 December to vote an amended law through parliament, and then swiftly steer it through the Senate. The first pension funds are set to move to the new DC system by 1 January next year. Quite a task.
Tjibbe Hoekstra, Netherlands Correspondent
tjibbe.hoekstra@ipe.com
