On top of its General Old Age Pension Scheme, which guarantees a minimum income to all persons aged over 65, the Netherlands has an elaborate supplementary pension scheme.

Host Country : The Netherlands

Place and date : The Hague, 12. - 13.4.2011

Peer countries : Belgium - Denmark - Germany - Ireland - Italy - Lithuania - Poland - Romania - Slovenia

Stakeholders : AGE, EFRP

The government's objective is to ensure that everybody is able to build up a supplementary pension sufficient to improve their standard of living after retirement, and a number of protective measures have been developed to enable this.

Nevertheless, in the wake of the economic crisis, funded schemes are increasingly perceived as being overly risky and the Dutch Government has decided to take a more fundamental look at some characteristics of its pension system. Of particular interest are the investment policies of pension funds, the sustainability of the occupational pension system and the financial supervision framework. Three studies have been commissioned to examine these questions. They are due to be discussed by government and social partners in mid-2010 and may serve as the basis of a possible reform.

Based on these studies and on the experiences of other Member States, the Peer Review will seek to shed more light on how to achieve the necessary balance between security and affordability in future pension schemes.

Peer Review manager

Ms Katja Korolkova (ÖSB Consulting GmbH)