Eoin Ryan (UEN), draftsman of the opinion of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. – Madam President, I also wish to congratulate Mrs Oomen-Ruijten on her work on this very difficult and complex piece of legislation, which, as has already been said, has been going around for about 15 to 20 years.

However, as draftsman of an opinion on this report for the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, I see it as vital that citizens can take the benefit of their supplementary pension plans with them when they take up a new job in another company or in another Member State, and the single market is going to see a huge increase in the number of people moving from Member State to Member State.

This legislation must ensure that the workers changing jobs are not unduly penalised and that the value of their pension is fairly adjusted on moving to new employment.

In addition, we have to appreciate the fact that employers providing these supplementary pension schemes are doing so on a voluntary basis. Therefore, any unnecessary financial pressure stemming from the provision of such schemes should be minimised. Balancing the objectives of these two goals is, however, no easy task, but I believe that the compromise texts of the Finnish and German Presidencies are a step in the right direction.

I believe that if workers are encouraged to be mobile and flexible, then they cannot be unduly punished through their pensions if they change jobs. Currently, moving to a new job or to work in another country can lead to significant losses. On top of that, we must ensure that when somebody takes their money out of a pension scheme, the workers who remain in that pension scheme will not lose out.

One of the biggest and most complex challenges facing each of the Member States over the next decade will be how we tackle the effect of our ageing population. Pensions are going to become – if they have not already become – a huge issue in Member States. Considering that this piece of legislation has been on the table for the last 15 to 20 years, it is high time that appropriate action is taken on this issue and we make sure that workers are fairly treated and fairly looked after in their pension schemes if they move from one Member State to another or from one company to another.