EUROPEAN UNION – The Brussels based Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) has set up a task force on pension portability and cross-border taxation, in order to analyse the markets and make recommendations for a future pensions directive.

“ The ideal would be to support a directive, but it’s a long way off, because this is a delicate issue. Many countries subsidise the area, and they want to have their way in the pensions field. However, portability is the issue since it affects labour mobility.” says Elsa Fornero, chairperson of the task force, and director of the Turin-based Centre for Research on Pensions (CERP).

The first meeting of the task force is taking place on June 27 in Brussels to set up its agenda, which will include economic and legal issues, says Fornero. To start with, the CEPS working group will review the portability of pension rights of all the first, second and third pillar systems within and between the member states.
It will also look into actuarial values of pension rights in various countries and comparing them within the countries’ different tier structures and between other union members.

The second meeting of the task force will be in November this year and the third one will take place in February next year, after which a report will be prepared by the rapporteur, Jörgen Mortensen, senior research fellow at CEPS.