April 2025
08Apr

EIOPA launches liquidity stress test of European pension funds

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has launched its fifth stress test of European occupational pension funds, assessing the impact of two adverse economic scenarios on the liquidity position of IORPs and the overall sector. The two scenarios simulate sharp increases and declines in interest rates, respectively. “In the ‘yield curve up’ scenario, EU interest rates increase sharply as market participants anticipate economic developments related to the abrupt escalation of geopolitical tensions,” said EIOPA. “These geopolitical tensions cause disruptions in...

April 8, 2025
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04Apr

Conversion in the Act on Future Pensions, sailing to safe harbour?

By Hans van Meerten & Adrienn Pásztor This article explores the transformation of rights and entitlements during the transition to a new Dutch pension system within the second pillar for occupational pension schemes. It provides an examination of various national legal challenges such as the contractual basis and retrospective nature of this conversion process, alongside relevant aspects of European law including property rights and effective legal protection under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the Charter of Fundamental...

April 4, 2025
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February 2025
24Feb

Could Retirement Finance Reform Reboot the European Economy?

The European Union is grappling with two interlinked crises that threaten its long-term economic stability: a severe shortfall in risk capital and an impending pension crisis exacerbated by demographic aging. Recent reports by Mario Draghi and Enrico Letta have sounded the alarm on the EU’s moribund growth prospects, highlighting a critical lack of investment liquidity for innovation and infrastructure. At the same time, Europe’s dominant pay-as-you-go pension systems are in an actuarial death spiral as the working-age population shrinks...

February 24, 2025
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14Feb

Place-Based Policies of the European Union: Contrasts and Similarities to the US Experience

By Peter R. Berkowitz, Michael Storper & Max Herbertson The European place-based policy framework was established in the European Treaties and has a current budget of $60-70 billion per year. This paper identifies key features and directions for its future development with respect to three place-based problems: traditionally lagging regions; contemporary distressed (or left-behind regions), including those facing the structural challenges of the energy transition; the challenge of spreading prosperity faced with the uneven geography of technological clusters and routine technology-based manufacturing. We...

February 14, 2025
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January 2025
10Jan

2024 Ageing Report: Economic & Budgetary Projections for the EU Member States (2022-2070)

By European Commission This report was prepared as part of the mandate the Economic and Financial Affairs Council gave to the Economic Policy Committee (EPC) in 2021 to update and further deepen its triannual projections of age-related expenditure based on new population projections by Eurostat. The work to fulfil this mandate is performed within the EPC’s Ageing Working Group (AWG). The 2024 Ageing Report provides long-term projections for public expenditure on pensions, healthcare, long-term care and education in the European...

January 10, 2025
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October 2024
08Oct

Regulators increase scrutiny on funded reinsurance amid pension de-risking surge

The growing use of innovative “funded” or “asset-intensive” reinsurance structures by life insurance companies has attracted regulatory attention, particularly in light of the expanding pension de-risking market. These transactions, which involve transferring corporate pension scheme liabilities to life insurers, have led to an increase in reinsurance activity where both investment and longevity risks are passed to reinsurers. In its latest report, Hogan Lovells notes that while regulators recognize the strategic role of reinsurance in managing risk and capital, the rising volume of...

October 8, 2024
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September 2024
25Sep

EU. Who can expect the most healthy life years?

In 2022, the number of healthy life years at birth in the EU was 62.6 years on average, 62.8 years for women and 62.4 years for men. Life expectancy at birth for women in the EU was, on average, 5.4 years longer than that for men (83.3 years compared with 77.9 years). Healthy life years - free from activity limitations - represent 75% and 80% of the total life expectancy for women and men, respectively. Therefore, on average, men tend to spend a greater proportion...

September 25, 2024
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04Sep

In brief: EU strikes investment facilitation deal with Angola

The European Union has struck a first-ever deal with Angola to stimulate foreign investments needed to achieve sustainable development goals. The EU-Angola Sustainable Investment Facilitation Agreement (SIFA) aims to boost Angola’s appeal to foreign investors by making investment regulations more transparent, promoting the use of e-government for authorisations, and enhancing stakeholder involvement. Angola made up 8% of the EU’s foreign direct investment in Africa, or €21.7bn, in 2022. It invested €2.9bn in the EU in the same year, making it the country’s main trade and investment...

September 4, 2024
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August 2024
19Aug

How to solve the crisis of the pension system in the EU?

The demographic time bomb in Europe has been ticking for decades. The countries of the European Union are getting older, and people are living longer. More than a fifth of the population of the European Union is now aged 65 or over. That number is expected to grow to a third by 2050. Last year, the World Health Organization warned that in 2024, the number of people over the age of 65 will exceed the number of people under the...

August 19, 2024
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09Aug

EU allocates €43 million for Palestinian Authority salaries

The European Union (EU) has announced a €43 million contribution to assist the Palestinian Authority in paying salaries and pensions for its employees and retirees in the West Bank. According to the EU statement, this financial aid is intended to help the Palestinian Authority meet part of its obligations to its civil servants amid severe financial difficulties caused by a prolonged economic crisis in the occupied Palestinian territories. The situation is exacerbated by irregular Palestinian tax clearance payments and ongoing deductions...

August 9, 2024
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