Proposition 54K2982

Proposition portant approbation de l'Accord de coopération du 29 mars 2017 entre l'État fédéral, les Régions, les Communautés, la Commission communautaire française et la Commission communautaire commune, relatif à l'exercice des compétences attribuées aux Parlements nationaux par le Traité sur l'Union européenne, le Traité sur le fonctionnement de l'Union européenne et les Protocoles y annexes.

General information ¶

Author

N-VA Siegfried Bracke

Submission date

March 8, 2018

Official page

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Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

EU law Treaty on European Union powers of parliament cooperation agreement principle of subsidiarity division of powers

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

Groen CD&V Vooruit Ecolo LE PS | SP DéFI Open Vld N-VA MR PP

Voted to reject

PVDA | PTB VB

Abstained from voting

∉

Contact form ¶

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Discussion ¶

June 21, 2018 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

I refer to the written report.

Mr. Speaker, I will intervene promptly since the Minister of Pensions is present so that he will not come for nothing.

If I had filed this bill for some time, it is because it is a priority to have a strong first legal pillar in terms of pensions but also because, on the other hand, it is important, by supplementing it with a second pillar, to attach the beginning of this second pillar to the first by linking it with the whole professional career to lower the minimum age of affiliation to a complementary pension plan from 25 to 18 years.

This allows workers to establish additional pension rights from the beginning of their professional career to supplement this statutory pension, which is even more important because the level of pensions in Belgium remains relatively low compared to all the countries around us.

If I intervene today, it is because I feel sorry that the government has not transposed this EU directive earlier. In fact, it provides, in the present case, for an entry into force on 21 May 2018. We are almost at the end of June! The State Council had already ticked on the original draft law, but you still postponed it through an amendment which, he, has not been submitted to the State Council. With the entry into force in 2019, we can ask whether it correctly complies with the European Directive which, I recall, provided for an entry into force on 21 May 2018.

For the rest, we will support this arrangement that we are in favour of. By its content, it joins the bill proposal that will then be transposed through this government bill.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to emphasize once again the progress that constitutes the vote on this adaptation of our legislation to the European Directive. This is evidently placed in the objective of further generalizing complementary pensions, thus allowing any worker who enters the position to be able to benefit from a second pillar without having to wait to the age of 25 or without having to renounce his second pillar if he changes an employer very quickly.

At the same time, it was intended to take into account the administrative difficulty that this may pose for a number of undertakings, by giving them time to adapt to the implementation of that directive. It is important that each company can adapt the second pillar procedures to the constraints of the new directive.

I also regret that in the Social Affairs Committee – this is not the fact of the government – there have been some tergiversations in the course of the analysis of this bill. Today, everything has come in order and I think that this significant advance in the second pillar can be made.

Mr. Speaker, just for the reality of the facts, I would like to reiterate that this directive dates from 16 April 2014, for an entry into force which, on the basis of the directive, was normally scheduled in February 2018. However, it must be said here that the government has had a large opportunity to do things well on time.

The [...]

On April 16, 2014, we were already in a special period. At some point, you have to be honest. You have been a minister for a while. I think you have not forgotten.

But we are in favor of the content of this text. I repeat that it is a pity that the government did not come in time, in compliance with the transposition of the directive. In essence, we will support this project, since we had ourselves filed in due time a bill transposing the directive to the advantage of the workers concerned.