Council conclusions of 20 October 2003 on open coordination for adequate and sustainable pensions
Date: 2003-10-20
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: European social policy, pension scheme, population ageing, supplementary pension

29.10.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 260/3

at national level:

3.3.

To promote the declaration of economic activity and
employment and combat the incidence of undeclared
work through awareness-raising and other actions such
as, where appropriate, collective bargaining undertaken
in accordance with national traditions and practice, in
ways which contribute inter alia to the simplification of
the business environment, particularly as far as small
and medium-sized enterprises are concerned.

4.

4.1.

4.2.

INVITES THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION:

the
To highlight developments on the basis of
experience of Member States in the context of
the
European Employment Strategy, including through the
organisation of peer reviews;

assess methodological

To
description of
taking into account recent research on the subject.

the
the problem and monitor progress

improvements

in

COUNCIL CONCLUSIONS

of 20 October 2003

on open coordination for adequate and sustainable pensions

(2003/C 260/02)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

RECALLING THAT:

to the

(1) The European Council, in accordance with the integrated
socio-economic strategy defined in Lisbon in March 2000
and in response
Joint Report by the
Commission and the Council on Adequate and Sustainable
Pensions, stressed the need for maintaining the momentum
for cooperation in this area through continued application
of the open method of coordination and called for further
reforms focusing in particular on increasing employment
rates for older workers.

first

(2) The need to accelerate the reform of pension systems with
the aim of ensuring that
they are both financially
sustainable and meet their social objectives, also through
a gradual
increase by 2010 of about five years in the
effective average age at which people cease work in the
the
European Union, was
Barcelona European Council.

especially underlined by

(3) The Joint Report by the Commission and the Council on
‘increasing labour participation and promoting active
ageing’ (March 2002) made a strong plea for a preventive
and lifecycle approach in the framework of a compre-
hensive and integrated strategy to tackle the challenge of
ageing populations and looked at all
factors enabling
people to enter the labour market and workers to remain
longer at work.

(4) The Joint Report by the Commission and the Council on
Adequate and Sustainable Pensions, having examined the
implemented by the Member States,
various policies
underlined how balanced progress
in addressing both
social and financial concerns is the key to ensuring the
political acceptability of pension reforms and invited
Member States to maintain the impetus of
the reform
process and to implement credible and effective strategies;

effective

the
retirement
raising the
employment rate for older workers represents a powerful
tool for addressing both concerns.

and hence

age

(5) The future adequacy of pensions in some Member States
also increasingly depends on the ability to earn sufficient
supplementary pension rights, but this is made difficult for
people who change jobs or interrupt
their careers by
conditions for the acquisition, preservation and transfer
of occupational pension rights which may also represent
the
to the mobility
major
Commission has addressed a consultation document on
this matter to the social partners.

of workers;

obstacles

(6) The Commission Communication ‘Strengthening the social
dimension of the Lisbon strategy: streamlining open coor-
dination in the field of social protection’ proposed that the
open method of coordination for pensions should be
pursued after 2006 within a streamlined framework, on
the basis of an evaluation of work undertaken in the
different processes
social protection domain,
including that of pensions.

in the

strongly

objective

endorsed

(7) The Opinion of
the Social Protection Committee on
of
streamlining
the
strengthening the social dimension of the Lisbon Strategy
and stressed the need for continued public visibility of the
different elements of the work developed to date on social
protection policies,
the Social
Protection Committee has also invited the Commission to
indicate how the mutual
the open
method of coordination can be reinforced in the area of
pensions.

including on pensions;

learning aspect of

(8) Ways of

improving and strengthening cooperation on
pensions, based on the open method of coordination,
were
of
the
Employment and Social Policy Ministers in Varese on 11
July 2003,

Informal meeting

discussed

during

C 260/4

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

29.10.2003

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

to promote

(1) UNDERLINES that the ageing of the population concerns all
current Member States and acceding countries and that it is
and integrated
useful
approach to ensure adequate and sustainable pension
to develop
provision in the future;
policy
future
and
responses
generations to remain active as they grow older.

to encourage present

is also essential

comprehensive

it

a

(2) CONFIRMS that the setting up of adequate, sustainable and
modern pension systems falls within the competence of
national policies, but that this process can be supported
by strengthened cooperation at European Union level
based on the open method of coordination.

(3) REITERATES the particular importance of the objective of
extending working life, in line with the Barcelona target,
both as a contribution to the sustainability and adequacy of
pension systems and as an integral aspect of the goal of
increasing overall and specific employment rates in line
with the Lisbon and Stockholm targets.

(4) UNDERLINES the importance for the Council

(EPSCO) of
taking a more active role in promoting coordination
between employment and social policies, as part of the
overall effort to achieve adequacy, financial sustainability
and modernisation of pensions systems.

in

(5) UNDERLINES that the Social Protection Committee, where
appropriate
Employment
cooperation with
Committee and the Economic Policy Committee, should
provide substantial support
in
particular by carrying out specific studies focusing on
common challenges for pension systems.

to the Council

(EPSCO),

the

(6) WELCOMES the Commission's undertaking, in view of the
if appropriate, the
2004 Spring European Council and,
Tripartite Social Summit, to present a report on progress
towards the Barcelona objective of raising the effective
average age at which people stop working.

it

is

(7) UNDERLINES how essential

to coordinate social
protection, economic and employment policies and to
continue,
to
focus a high level of attention on ensuring adequacy,
alongside the financial sustainability and modernisation of
systems.

in the framework of

the reform process,

(8) RECOGNISES the need also to modernise occupational
pension schemes and notes that the Social Partners have
been invited, on the basis of the Commission's consultation
document under Article 138 of the Treaty on the port-
ability of occupational pensions, to consider an approach
to reducing obstacles to mobility.

COUNCIL RESOLUTION

of 20 October 2003

on initiatives to combat trafficking in human beings, in particular women

(2003/C 260/03)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION:

RECALLING

— that according to Article 5(3) of the Charter of Funda-
the European Union trafficking in

mental Rights of
human beings is prohibited,

— the Hague Ministerial Declaration of 26 April 1997 on
European Guidelines for effective measures to prevent and
Combat Trafficking in Women for the purpose of sexual
exploitation,

— that the Tampere European Council in October 1999 called
for action against human trafficking and the sexual exploi-
tation of children,

— Council of Europe Recommendation 11 (2000) on traf-
ficking in human beings for the purpose of sexual exploi-
tation and Recommendation 1545 (2002) concerning
campaigns against trafficking in women,

— the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women, especially Article 6, and

the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, especially
Articles 34 and 35,

— in particular that the Palermo Protocol (2002) to Prevent,
Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially
Women and Children, supplementing the UN Convention
against Transnational Organised Crime, develops a compre-
hensive approach specifically addressing trafficking in
human beings and covers criminalisation, protection and
assistance
this
as well
phenomenon,

as prevention of

to victims

— the conclusions of the Syracuse Conference of December
2002 aiming to raise awareness of the issue of trafficking,
particularly with regard to women, and of the need to
widen and intensify activities in the Member States,

— that in this context, the Council (JHA) meeting with the
candidate countries on 28 September 2001 agreed on 12
measures to combat trafficking, among them active oper-
ational cooperation, organisation of information campaigns
and providing assistance to victims,