age between 63 and 68. every year they postpone retirement they secure a higher pension. italy and sweden are interesting cases when it comes to life expectancy risk. they have converted their system into a notional defined contribution ( ndc ) system, which provides for a closer link between the contributions paid and the pensions paid and uses the life expectancy at the moment of retirement as a basis for the pension rights. in other words : the costs of a longer life expectancy are no longer shouldered by the next generation, but translated into lower pensions. the dutch situation indeed, rising life expectancy is one of the main causes of the increasing burden. as a result of rising life expectancy, many more people reach the age of 65. when, back in 1957, the netherlands adopted the old - age pension system for people aged 65 and upwards, the average age of death was still about 61 years. it would last another small decade before the average age of death for men had risen above 65 years. at the time, men did not reach the age of 65 as a rule. by the time you were 65, you were simply unable to work anymore. if we were to extrapolate this line of reasoning, the age of retirement would need to be raised to 79 on the grounds that the current average age of death is 75. this comparison, while absurd, serves to demonstrate how much better and, hence, more expensive our pension provisions have become. the number of people receiving an old - age pension has grown substantially because the age of retirement has remain unchanged. to avoid an abrupt adjustment of the age of retirement, it is therefore advisable to start discussing a system by which the average age of retirement is gradually raised, while allowing individual flexibility as to the age of retirement and, hence, freedom of choice as to the height of the pension benefit. unlike most other european countries, the netherlands is so fortunate as to have built up high pension reserves. as a result, the ageing of the population affects our total pension benefits to a lesser degree. all the same, our second - pillar pensions are sensitive to the ageing of the population. this sensitivity is reflected, among other things, in the effectiveness of the contribution instrument : it is becoming increasingly difficult to absorb setbacks with contribution adjustments. in recent years, many arrangements have been converted from final pay to average pay schemes, with conditional indexation of pension accruals and benefits. this permits a more flexible use of the index

luis de guindos : presentation of the european central bank annual report 2020 to the committee on economic and monetary affairs of the european parliament introductory remarks ( by videoconference ) by mr luis de guindos, vice - president of the european central bank, to the committee on economic and monetary affairs of the european parliament, frankfurt am main, 14 april 2021. * * * introductory remarks by luis de guindos, vice - president of the ecb, at the econ committee of the european parliament ( by videoconference ) frankfurt am main, 14 april 2021 madam chair, honourable members of the committee on economic and monetary affairs, ladies and gentlemen, i welcome the opportunity to appear before this committee to present the ecb ’ s annual report for 2020. 1 today we will also publish the feedback on the calls and requests contained in your resolution on our previous annual report. 2 this has been an exceptionally challenging year for all of us. the global coronavirus ( covid - 19 ) pandemic has triggered an unprecedented crisis, creating social, political, economic and financial challenges for europe and the rest of the world. therefore, allow me to focus my remarks first of all on the evolution of the economic outlook and the subsequent monetary policy decisions taken by the ecb. second, i would like to discuss in more detail the impact of the pandemic on the european financial sector. the economic outlook and the ecb ’ s decisions after 2020 saw the largest contraction recorded in post - war history, the euro area economy is expected to recover in 2021. meanwhile, the extended containment measures continue to weigh on short - term activity, particularly services. social distancing measures and high uncertainty regarding employment prospects continue to weigh on consumer confidence, which remains below its pre - crisis level despite a recent uptick. in contrast, private investment now appears to be rather resilient and business confidence points towards growth in manufacturing activity. broad economic activity should pick up strongly in the second half of this year thanks to vaccinations, the easing of confinement measures and monetary and fiscal policy support in both the euro area and the rest of the world. still, uncertainty remains high and the recovery is expected to be fragile, with gdp only reaching its pre - crisis level in the second quarter of 2022 according to the march 2021 ecb staff projections. a successful vaccination campaign in the entire euro area appears to be crucial in order to prevent downside risks from materialising. inflation as measured