Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
12 – 16 April 2010
Table of Contents
EU FINANCIAL SERVICES............................................................................................................................... 2
I. BANK OF IRELAND CHANGES MAY CUT DEFICIT BY 50% .................................................................................. 2
II. FTK PARAMETERS COULD COST EXTRA 50% IN CONTRIBUTIONS - VB AND OPF............................................ 2
EU INTERNAL MARKET .................................................................................................................................. 2
I. EURO ZONE READIES 30BN EUROS TO RESCUE GREECE .................................................................................... 2
II. WHAT LESSONS TO DRAW FROM GREEK CRISIS? ............................................................................................. 3
III. BULGARIA DROPS PLANS FOR EARLY EUROZONE ENTRY ................................................................................ 3
IV. COMMISSION SAYS READY TO BACK ESTONIA'S EUROZONE BID .................................................................... 3
EU HEALTH ......................................................................................................................................................... 4
I. LIMITING UNIVERSITY PLACES OF STUDENTS NON-RESIDENT IN BELGIUM MAY BE JUSTIFIED ON GROUNDS OF
PUBLIC HEALTH PROTECTION ............................................................................................................................... 4
II. CONFERENCE ON HEALTHY AGEING ............................................................................................................... 4
III. SWEDISH PHARMACISTS TACKLE FAKE MEDICINES ........................................................................................ 4
EU SOCIAL AFFAIRS......................................................................................................................................... 5
I. FINLAND SHOULD BUILD UP THIRD PILLAR DC, SAYS OECD ........................................................................... 5
II. CALLS FOR SLOVAK PENSION REFORM GROW LOUDER .................................................................................... 5
III. SWISS LEFT-WING RAISES PENSION ISSUES ON REFERENDUM TAILWIND ........................................................ 6
IV. UK CONSERVATIVE PARTY PROMISES TO KEEP DB SCHEMES VIABLE ........................................................... 6
V. IRISH DC PENSION MEMBERS SHOW MORE CAUTION THAN DB TRUSTEES ...................................................... 7
ECONOMY ........................................................................................................................................................... 7
I. SOCIALISTS, UNIONS AND ANTI-GLOBALISATION ORGANISATIONS PUSH FOR “ROBIN HOOD” TAX ................... 7
EVENTS AND COURT CASES.......................................................................................................................... 8
I. 22 – 23 APRIL 2010 CONFERENCE ON MINIMUM PENSIONS, EVOLUTION OF SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEMS AND
THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO SOCIAL INCLUSION: MINISTERIAL MEETING ................................................................. 8
II. EUROPEAN COURT OF JUSTICE CALENDAR".................................................................................................... 8
IN DEPTH ANALYSIS ...................................................................................................................................... 10
I. STATEMENT ON THE SUPPORT TO GREECE BY EURO AREA MEMBERS STATES ............................................... 10
II. SOCIALISTS, UNIONS AND ANTI-GLOBALISATION ORGANISATIONS PUSH FOR “ROBIN HOOD” TAX ............... 11
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AEIP Newsletter • Week 15
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EU Financial Services
EU Financial Services
II. FTK parameters could cost extra 50% in contributions - VB and OPF
The new parameters for the financial assessment framework FTK, as proposed by social affairs’
minister Piet Hein Donner, could require a 50% rise in contributions, the pensions bodies VB and OPF
have claimed. The pensions associations have asked the minister to refrain from taking drastic
measures now, and instead take the parameters for the allowed assumptions on returns, as well as for
calculating liabilities, into account when discussing the integral review of the FTK. Responding to the
recommendations from the Don Committee, Donner has proposed to decrease the upper limit on
return assumptions for listed equity and indirect property by 0.8% to 6.8%. He also wants to set the
parameters for fixed income investments at gross 4.5%, rather than without investment costs.
According to VB and OPF, the proposals will also deliver added aggravation for pension funds through
the application of both arithmetical and analytical maxima, as well as through the mandatory use of a
flexible forward curve for accounting liabilities. (15/04/2010 IPE.com)
EU Internal Market
EU Internal Market
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AEIP Newsletter • Week 15
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programme to be designed with and cofinanced by the IMF," the EU finance ministers and the
European Commission said in a joint statement. (12/04/2010 Euractiv.com)
For the detailed plan and joint statement see in depth analysis page: 10
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AEIP Newsletter • Week 15
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deficit of 2.6% in 2009, 2.2% in 2010 and 2.0% in 2011. In order to access the euro zone, candidate
countries have to keep this figure below 3%. (16/04/2010 Euractiv.com)
EU Health
EU Health
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AEIP Newsletter • Week 15
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EU Social Affairs
EU Social Affairs
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AEIP Newsletter • Week 15
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added, while arguing “often only so called experts” will be “the first to get out of the troubles that they
caused” while the state and the social partners will be “left to solve the problem.” Her comments are
somewhat inflammatory but are also made in light of the country's pending general election in June.
Vojtech Tkac, an adviser to the same ministry, seconded the academy’s call for the creation of a
contributory occupational pension pillar instead of what he described as the current “deformed third
pillar”. He also stressed there should be greater importance on the introduction of employer-employee
participation in decision-making. Until 2005, Slovakia's third pillar pension funds were made up of a
board of directors which included employer/employee representatives. But tthis board was abolished
when the government adjusting the supplementary funds to meet EU regulations, which included the
separation of clients’ and company assets. Vladimir Mojs, from the Slovak federation of trade unions,
claimed pension management companies now operate like most other insurance companies. Similarly,
Francesco Briganti, director at the AEIP, quoted a Moody’s study which suggested non-profit or
paritarian systems had fared much better during the crisis than profit-oriented pension companies.
However, Viktor Kouril, head of the Slovak pension fund association, defended the current system by
stating employer representation on the board of pension fund management companies might pressure
employees to join certain funds, thereby depriving them of the free choice and weakening competition.
“We are not trying to avoid a dialogue with paritarian institutions and some pension fund companies do
have such discussions. But the actual management of the money should be left to experts,” he pointed
out. “The employer system had its positive features, especially in the beginning when employer
representatives helped attract new members. But now the system is stabilised,” he added.
(12/04/2010 IPE.com)
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AEIP Newsletter • Week 15
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attracted to keep providing DB, who would otherwise have shut the scheme down,” Waterson
continued, adding there was a “need to think about removing regulatory barriers and developing new
models of risk sharing to allow for new options to arise.” Other suggestions made by Waterson include
the creation of hybrid DB and defined contribution (DC) schemes. The proposals put forward for a new
DB scheme would see employees share the investment risk with employers, while a modified DC
scheme would allow for some of the risk to be shouldered by an organisation, meaning the individual
pensioner would not be left with the entire burden of risk. The Conservative Party today outlined
further policies as part of the launch of their election manifesto in London. In addition to re-introducing
the earnings link to the basic state pension, the party also said it would put an end to the obligation of
buying an annuity when a pensioner reaches 75. (13/04/2010 IPE.com)
Economy
Economy
I. Socialists, unions and anti-globalisation organisations push for “Robin Hood” tax
European Socialists, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and anti-globalisation
organisations like Oxfam are keeping up the pressure on the European authorities to take their
proposal on introducing a “Robin Hood” tax on financial transactions seriously. European finance
ministers are meeting informally this week in Madrid where they will have a discussion on how to
create innovative financial resources for paying part of the cost of the financial crisis and for funding
ways of countering climate change and world poverty.
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AEIP Newsletter • Week 15
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contracts and public service contracts (OJ 2004 L 134, p. 114) – Practice of local
authorities and local authority undertakings to award contracts relating to collective
pension schemes directly and without issuing a public call for tenders
Advocate General : Trstenjak
Thursday Reference for a preliminary ruling – Pest Megyei Bíróság – Interpretation of Articles
15/04/2010 43 and 48 EC – National rules requiring account to be taken, for the purposes of
09:30 determining the basis for the vocational training levy of a company established on
national territory, of the salary costs of workers employed in a branch established in
another Member State, even if the company in question is subject to an equivalent
charge, by reason of the employment of those workers, in that other Member State
Advocate General : Sharpston
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General : Mazák
In Depth Analysis
In Depth Analysis
Euro area Members States are ready to provide financing via bilateral loans centrally pooled by the
European Commission as part of a package including International Monetary Fund financing.
The Commission, in liaison with the ECB, will start working on Monday April 12th, with the
International Monetary Fund and the Greek authorities on a joint programme (including amounts and
conditionality, building on the recommendations adopted by the Ecofin Council in February). In
parallel, Euro area Members States will engage the necessary steps, at national level, in order to be
able to deliver a swift assistance to Greece.
Euro area Member States will decide the activation of the support when needed and disbursements
will be decided by participating Member States.
The programme will cover a three-year period. The euro area Member States are ready to contribute
for their part up to € 30 billion in the first year to cover financing needs in a joint programme to be
designed with and cofinanced by the IMF. Financial support for the following years will be decided
upon the agreement of the joint programme
In order to set incentives for Greece to return to market financing, Euro area Members States loans
will be granted on non-concessional interest rates. The pricing formula used by the IMF is an
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appropriate benchmark for setting Euro area Members States bilateral loan conditions, albeit with
some adjustments. Variable-rate loans will be based on 3-month Euribor. Fixed-rate loans will be
based upon the rates corresponding to Euribor swap rates for the relevant maturities. A charge of 300
basis points will be applied. A further 100 basis points are charged for amounts outstanding for more
than 3 years. In conformity with IMF charges, a one-off service fee of maximum 50 basis points will be
charged to cover operational costs.
For instance, as of April 9th, for a three year fixed-rate loan granted to Greece, the rate would be
around 5%.
The Eurogroup is confident that the determined efforts of the Greek authorities and of its European
Partners will allow to overcome the fiscal and structural challenges of the Greek economy. In this
context, the Eurogroup welcomes the budget execution in the first months of the year, which shows
that the measures taken so far are bearing fruit.
II. Socialists, unions and anti-globalisation organisations push for “Robin Hood” tax
European Socialists, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and anti-globalisation
organisations like Oxfam are keeping up the pressure on the European authorities to take their
proposal on introducing a “Robin Hood” tax on financial transactions seriously. European finance
ministers are meeting informally this week in Madrid where they will have a discussion on how to
create innovative financial resources for paying part of the cost of the financial crisis and for funding
ways of countering climate change and world poverty.
The European Parliament adopted a resolution at the beginning of March calling on the Commission
to proceed to a detailed feasibility study of the costs linked to the introduction of a tax on financial
transactions (EUROPE 10095). In another resolution adopted in a very close vote at the end of March,
it gave its support to such a tax aimed at reducing the impact of the crisis on developing countries
(EUROPE 10108). Acknowledging that such a tax would help raise significant funding, the
Commission does not believe it very clear whether this tax will have an effect on price volatility and
considers it quite likely that financial actors will circumvent the tax by going through other markets.
In a letter addressed to acting president of the Ecofin Council Elena Salgado, ETUC urges finance
ministers to take into account the clear advantages of a tax on financial transactions. Set at a 0.05%
rate, this tax will only affect the institutions engaged in purely speculative transactions, such as the
derivatives market. According to the European unions, its impact on the economy will be negligible
insofar as real economy operations take place over longer periods of time than short-term market
operations that are socially worthless.
OXFAM believes that the Commission work document is off target and that “a tax on financial
transaction of 0.05% would generate more than €400 billion every year at zero cost to tax payers”
declared Nicolas Mombrial on behalf of the organisation in a press release. He thought the
Commission's proposal to set a leverage effect for debt very timorous and risky when the EU should
be taking the lead on the question at the G20 summit in Toronto. He insisted that if other countries
were slow in coming forward, Europe should lead from the front and introduce a tax on monetary
transactions in an effort to bring order at home. (12/04/2010 Agence Europe)
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