Again NSC MP Agnes Joseph adjusts its controversial pension proposal, but Minister Van Hijum will not convince that

It was appropriate: on the day NSC arch image Pieter Omtzigt farewell From the House of Representatives, his party colleague Agnes Joseph showed that she too, in Omtzigt’s following, can bite into files and not give up in the event of setbacks. And that with a theme that is close to Omtzigt: pensions.

Joseph wants to give employees and pensioners the right of consent when moving their pension money that has been accrued so far to the new system. The pension fundssupervisors and Legislative advisor The Council of State Have all turned against it.

And also her party colleague Eddy van Hijum, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Social Affairs, unraveled her proposal. The minister had fundamental and practical objections. In a letter to the House of Representatives, Van Hijum listed a number of those practical objections on Friday. For example, all kinds of additional rules have to be drawn up, he wrote, for example, to remove contradictions with the rest of the Pension Act.

Fourth version

On Tuesday, Joseph surprised with the announcement that she has met all these practical objections listed. She handed in the fourth version of her proposal, now in collaboration with BBB, PVV and SP.

In fact, the House of Representatives would already vote on its proposal on Tuesday. But because there is now an adjusted proposal, there will be a new debate this Wednesday and the mood will only be next week.

It is the second time that Joseph uses fundamental criticism to refine and supplement her proposal. She did that after the criticism of the Council of State, the sector itself and the supervisors.

In the meantime, it remains exciting whether her proposal will have a majority in the Lower House. That depends on the support of DENK and Party for the Animals, which have not yet determined their position. In the Senate, the chance of a majority seems small.

Fundamental objections

What is clear: Joseph’s new adjustments will not change much about the attitude of Minister Van Hijum. First of all because they do not remove his fundamental objections. He said earlier that individual right of objection does not fit within the Dutch collective pension system. Among other things because individual choices can lead to poorer outcomes for the collective.

And his list of practical objections is only « a first inventory, » he wrote in his letter on Friday. He expects more changes. If the House of Representatives votes for this NSC proposal, Van Hijum thinks he needs two years to list the sector whether this can be made feasible. And if so: which extra rules are needed. Only then could it be to the Senate.

And that too is problematic according to the minister. Joseph’s proposal is not a separate bill, but a change (‘amendment’) in an undisputed deferment law by Van Hijum. He shifts the deadline for pension funds to switch to the new system by one year. Now that deadline is 1 January 2027, or within two years. And with that, Van Hijum wrote on Friday, the deferment law could « no longer be on time ».

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