Some 70,000 people took to the streets of Brussels on 28 May 2018. And tens of thousands demonstrated once again in several Belgian cities on 2 October. The trade union mobilisation against the reform of the pension system in Belgium attracted nationwide attention. But this protest movement did not emerge from nowhere. It is, rather, the culmination of many years of discontent.

The federal government undertook to reform the entire pension system, to cope with Belgium’s ever-ageing population, from the moment it came to office in 2014. Ageing has a cost. In 2016, public pension spending in Belgium amounted to 12.1 per cent of its GDP, and looks set to rise in the decades to come. According to the 2018 Ageing Report, published by the European Commission, the figure is expected to reach 14.5 per cent in 2040.

The measures devised by Pensions Minister Daniel Bacquelaine to tackle the situation – raising the legal retirement age to 67 years (compared with 65 years at present for men and women) and tightening the conditions for early retirement – were quick to trigger a public outcry.

Limited solutions
The Belgian example mirrors the situation throughout the European Union. According to the estimates of the Commission’s Ageing Report, 65.3 per cent of the total population in the EU27 (Britain is no longer included due to Brexit) is currently of working age (15 to 64) and 19.5 per cent is aged 65 and above.

In 2070, the ratio is expected to be very different: the 15 to 64 age group is projected to make up 55.9 per cent and the 65s and above, 29.2 per cent. The trend is clear: there will be fewer people of working age and more pensions to pay, a scenario that has pushed member states to seek solutions designed to ensure the sustainability of the system.

Overall, their response has been the same as Belgium’s. With the exception of Poland, most countries have raised the legal retirement age, which some plan to link to increases in life expectancy. In its 2008 Pension Adequacy Report, the European Commission notes that Finland has decided to gradually raise the statutory retirement age from 63 to 65 by 2027. Then, “As of 2030, the pensionable age will be directly linked to life expectancy, growing by 1-2 months per cohort, in line with the longevity gains,” the report continues.

Read more @Equal Times