Academic, Hans van Meerten, details the events of the latest debate on the Netherlands' Future Pensions Act, which took place on 17 January, and adds his opinion

On 17 January, the Dutch parliament held a new debate on the new Future Pensions Act (Wet Toekomst Pensioenen, Wtp).

An overview of the changes in the Wtp and critical comments can be found here.

The newly elected parliament has a majority of opponents of the Wtp. They differ in their criticism, but they all want more influence for individual participants.

In particular, these three parties (PVV, NSC and BBB) want to include the consent of the participants in the so-called conversion - the transformation of DB rights into a DC contract. This is a huge operation, unprecedented in the world, involving €1500bn. Many people in the Netherlands (about 10 million people) depend solely on their pension, as it is their only source of income in retirement.

The three parties are in the process of forming a new government, with the liberal party VVD calling changes to the Wtp 'very unwise', although in the formation 'everything is negotiable'.

"Give participants a say in their own pension. Make sure that participants have an individual right to object," PVV's Edgar Mulder said, who called on Pensions Minister Carola Schouten "not to disregard the instrument of a referendum, but to use it".

For BBB's Henk Vermeer, it is a "clear obligation" for the legislator to "enable a system of consent".

"It can never be the case that individual members' pension rights are transferred to another scheme without their consent," he said.

NSC's Agnes Joseph said a referendum could help build "support and confidence" among participants.

Joseph tabled a motion asking the government to prepare for greater citizen involvement and to seek independent legal advice on the conversion.

Minister Schouten strongly advised against this and said she would not implement the motions if they received a majority in parliament. What is at stake here is "good governance", and this is clearly not being served by changing the WTP, she said.

Comments

I find the attitude of this government and Minister Schouten quite shocking and even disrespectful to the parliament. The minister is clearly fed up with the debate. She is not going to change anything, even if parliament votes for it.

"Everything has already been discussed," she said.

Schouten may be fed up, but the pension members – who are obliged to participate in a pension fund - are not. They are in great uncertainty about what will happen. I get all kinds of emails from worried participants every day.

After all the scandals this government has caused in the last few years, it is not really appropriate to talk about 'good governance', to put it mildly.

Schouten warned that it would take many years to get a new, amended law. This is not true. The possibility of chance is quite easy to implement. Simply delete the exception in the article (83 of the Pension Act) that allows for individual consent.

This is already common practice in normal conversions, where an individual transfers his or her accruals from pension fund A to pension fund B.

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