After a displayed pension amendment, NSC MP Joseph has lost a blow, but not yet the war

Agnes Joseph (45) had a bitter pill this week. The NSC Member of the NSC saw how her amendment to arrange participation in the transition to the new pension system NIKT was voted down: 73 MPs were against, 72 in front. For years, Joseph worked as an actuaris (insurance forces) on the administration of pension participants, but left the sector because she provided for major risks with the new pension system. She no longer wanted to make sums that according to her “too good to be trueThey were, she didn’t want to « look away, » but help improve the new system.

How does a mathematician from the pension sector end up in the Lower House?

Joseph once shared an office with Pieter Omtzigt at the University of Amsterdam, where they both worked as a researcher. Omtzigt then switched to politics and Joseph used her mathematics nodel for the pension sector. Although their professional roads divorced themselves, Joseph always kept in touch with Omtzigt, who, like them, was critical of the new system. After the founding of NSC, Joseph also made the corridor to The Hague. It was quite heavy for her, she acknowledged in a recent parliamentary debate. She not only lost her dream job, but also time for her family. Instead, she was ‘under a magnifying glass’ daily. « But I just couldn’t stand it anymore, » she said in her maiden speech in the Lower House.

How did she go into politics so far?

Joseph did not want to look away, but initially had to sit on her hands for a while. In the coalition it was agreed to leave pensions alone for a while. When that period had passed, Joseph immediately knew the Hague spotlights. She presented one series of plansin which she argued, among other things, to enable participation in the transition to the new system via referenda. She was confronted with a storm of criticism, from pension funds, supervisors and the Council of State, who called the plans « insufficiently thought out ». Joseph was apparently there not from impressed. She did, however, made different adjustments, by placing more emphasis on the possibility of individual right of objection. But they couldn’t convince her political opponents.

Why does Joseph find participation so important?

Joseph believes that people should be allowed to decide for themselves whether they want to switch from the existing pension accrual to the new system. The pension can rather fluctuate and, according to the way in which the transition is arranged,, according to Joseph, results in risks for the livelihood of millions of people. People themselves must have something to say about such major changes, she always explained.

How did the mood respond? And how to proceed?

Relieved sounds sounded mainly from the pension sector. Joseph’s party mate Minister Eddy Van Hijum (Social Affairs) was also happy that the uncertainty that the proposal had brought was over. Joseph himself called it « very unfortunate » that her proposal had been rejected. Yet, according to her, there is still plenty to improve on the new set. She has also been achieving a small success since then: a motion for sharpening communication about the new system and to point out the risks in the news system more was assumed. For Joseph the first battle may be lost, the war is certainly not.

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