The eagerly awaited draft directive “relating to the minimum requisites to increase the mobility of workers by improving the acquisition and maintenance of rights to complementary pension” was adopted by the European Commission last week, after the changes made to it by the European Parliament during its first reading. The aim of the legislation is to eliminate obstacles to employment mobility without “penalising” those who avail themselves of the right to free circulation. Commenting on the new directive, European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities Vladimir Spidla underlined the “determination of the Institutions to eliminate obstacles to mobility in Europe, concrete example of flexicurity”. Spidla said that “one of the major challenges consists in striking the right balance between the reduction of barriers and the maintenance of an environment of stable and sustainable work to develop the complementary pension regime”. The directive, from which any definitive provision on the vexed question of the transfer of pension rights from one member state to another was excluded, now awaits the unanimous vote of the Council before returning to the EP for its second reading by the end of the year.
