COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union concerning the position of the Council at first reading with a view to the adoption of a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on minimum requirements for enhancing worker mobility by improving the acquisition and preservation of supplementary pension rights 2005/0214 (COD)
Date: 2014-02-19
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: labour mobility, social-security harmonisation, supplementary pension

EUROPEAN 
COMMISSION 

Brussels, 19.2.2014  
COM(2014) 98 final 

2005/0214 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 

concerning the 

position of the Council at first reading  
with a view to the adoption of a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council 
on minimum requirements for enhancing worker mobility by improving the acquisition 
and preservation of supplementary pension rights  
2005/0214 (COD)  

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2005/0214 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 

concerning the 

position of the Council at first reading  
with a view to the adoption of a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council 
on minimum requirements for enhancing worker mobility by improving the acquisition 
and preservation of supplementary pension rights  
2005/0214 (COD)  

1. 

BACKGROUND 

Date of transmission of the proposal to the European Parliament and 
to the Council 
(document COM(2005) 507 final – 2005/0214 COD): 

20/10/2005. 

Date  of  the  opinion  of  the  European  Economic  and  Social 
Committee:  
(CESE 589/2006 fin) 

20/04/2006. 

Date  of  the  position  of  the  European  Parliament,  first  reading:

20/06/2007. 

(Report, OOMEN-RUIJTEN – 52007AP0269) 

Date of transmission of the amended proposal 
(document COM(2007) 603 final – COD unchanged): 

09/10/2007. 

Date of adoption of the position of the Council: 

17/02/2014. 

2. 

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSAL FROM THE COMMISSION 

In view of demographic ageing and the need to preserve the sustainability of public finances, 
it is expected that occupational pension schemes will have to play a greater role in securing 
adequate incomes in retirement.  

It is therefore essential to ensure that the rules governing the operation of these schemes do 
not  hamper  the  freedom  of  movement  of  workers  across  Member  States  or  mobility  within 
any  Member  State,  therefore  reducing  the  opportunities  for  mobile  workers  to  build  up  and 
preserve sufficient pension rights by the end of their careers. Failure to achieve this will also 
reduce the flexibility and effectiveness of the labour market. Even if there are many factors 
which can determine the choice of any individual to be more mobile, the possibility of losing 
supplementary pension rights may impact on individual decisions when changing jobs. 

3. 

COMMENTS ON THE POSITION OF THE COUNCIL 

The  Council’s  position  differs  from  the  Commission  proposal  in  two  main  aspects.  One 
concerns  the  scope  of  the  directive  which  the  Council  wishes  to  be  reduced  to  cross-border 

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mobility. The Commission had proposed that all workers changing jobs should benefit from 
the provisions of the directive, whether they change jobs within a country or across borders. 
This  was  mainly  for  practical  reasons,  as  it  was  not  clear  how,  in  practice,  schemes  could 
apply different rules to people changing jobs across borders and those remaining within the 
same country. The Council argued that article 46 TFEU could not be used as a legal base for 
protecting people moving to a different job within the same country and developed a way in 
which  cross-border  mobility  could  be  differentiated  from  internal  mobility,  the  latter 
remaining  a  responsibility  of  the  Member  States.  The  Commission  can  accept  this  position, 
but  invites  Member  States  to  apply  the  standards  of  the  directive  also  to  workers  changing 
jobs within a country. Most Member States have already stated their intention of applying the 
directive uniformly to all job changers. 

The second major change relative to the Commission’s proposal concerns the conditions for 
the  acquisition  of  occupational  pension  rights.  The  Commission  had  proposed  that  the 
acquisition  of  occupational  pension  rights  cannot  be  subject  to  a  waiting  period  (before  a 
worker  is  admitted  into  the  pension  scheme)  of  more  than  one  year,  and  vesting  periods 
(duration  of  scheme  membership  after  which  the  rights  cannot  be  forfeited  due  to  an  early 
termination of the employment relation) also must not be longer than one year. The Council 
took the position that the combined waiting and vesting periods must not be longer than three 
years. At the same time, the Council opted for a more favourable rule on maximum allowed 
minimum  age  for  acquiring  a  vested  pension  right.  Instead  of  25  years,  the  minimum  age 
should  not  exceed  21  years.  While  the  Council’s  position  falls  short  of  the  Commission’s 
proposal  regarding  the  total  length  of  waiting  and  vesting  periods,  it  represents  an 
improvement regarding the minimum age. Therefore the Commission can accept the position 
of the Council. 

4. 

CONCLUSION 

The  Commission  therefore  considers  that  it  can  endorse  the  Council  position  so  that  the 
European Parliament can adopt the final text in second reading before the end of the current 
legislature. 

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