Joint report by the Commission and the Council on adequate and sustainable pensions

The European Parliament adopted a resolution on adequate and sustainable pensions, based on the own-initiative report by Jan ANDERSSON (PES, Sweden.) (Please refer to the document dated 09/07/03.) The resolution was adopted by 453 votes in favour 61 against and 27 abstentions. Parliament stated that Member States need to give a clear indication to their citizens of what they may expect from their pension systems, and what they must do to achieve an appropriate standard of living later in life. The funding of public pension systems ought to take priority in the budgets of the Member States and applicant countries. Parliament also emphasised the importance of integrating public pension systems with appropriate public health care systems specifically geared to the needs of those elderly people who cannot look after themselves. With regard to increasing the retirement age, Parliament felt that pension level incentives and stronger links between pension earnings and benefits cannot stand alone. It regretted that the Commission has not sufficiently highlighted the clear causal relation between the attainment of that objective and the active promotion of possibilities for lifelong learning, quality of work and a safe and healthy working environment.�