EUROPE – The European Parliament will vote tomorrow (Wed July 4) at midday (CET) on the long-awaited directive for occupational pension funds, despite an overrun in today’s (July 3) preliminary debate, which sees parliament reassemble at 9pm tonight for further discussion.

The outcome of the debate is expected to mirror that of the recent vote of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (EMAC), which overwhelmingly endorsed the report of Austrian MEP Othmar Karas - supporting prudential investment rules and non mandatory cover of biometric risk, amongst others.

Chris Huhne, UK MEP and member of the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party, comments: “ The debate has actually overrun so that it will continue at 9pm tonight.
“ The Plenary session thankfully is just summing up what we know to be the group position.
He adds:“ I expect a fairly major majority tomorrow for the position as it emerged from the committee (EMAC).
“ It seems to me the Socialists are actually agreeing to ignore what Kuckelkorn was actually saying, so it looks pretty good.”