Europe's top industrialists called for radical reform of national pension systems yesterday, saying failure to act would inevitably lead to economic hardship and could damage confidence in the euro.
"If they are not reformed soon, public pension systems in many EU member-states pose a threat to the competitiveness of the European economy," the European Round Table, a grouping of 47 European multinationals, said in a report.
"Confidence in the stability and political management of Europe's new currency will be rapidly undermined if markets come to fear an explosion of public debt . . . because of large, unfunded public pensions deficits," the report added.
The report, European Pensions: An appeal for reform, called on the EU to lift regulatory barriers to asset diversification by fund managers, co-ordinate taxes applied to cross-border pension contributions and to legislate to allow employers to take their pensions with them when they go to another country to work.
It also urged national governments to focus pensions spending on only the needy and, by tax breaks, to encourage individuals to save for their retirement.
