“CDA’s Scientific Institute warns of disastrous consequences of new pension law”

• Roel Bolsius

  reporter The Hague

The CDA in the Senate should not agree to the new pension law because it “is a huge gamble on the future”, says the CDA’s Scientific Institute.

“This will be a disaster, the CDA senators must send this law back to the House of Representatives,” say director Pieter Jan Dijkman and employee Arjen Siegmann in the Telegraph. They are affiliated with the CDA as scientists, but have no political function.

Dijkman and Siegmann compare the new pension law with other major system changes, such as the introduction of the loan system for students and the introduction of the childcare allowance. They did not go well either, they say.

The new pension system will also lead to financial uncertainty for citizens, they expect. Siegmann: “It is so completely clear why we as CDA should be against this. The new pension system is so diametrically opposed to everything we stand for as a party. You cannot vote for this.”

Next Monday and Tuesday, the agenda of the Senate will be all about the debate on the new pension law, the Future Pensions Act. The opponents of the law have one last chance to stop the new pension system.

Parties such as PVV, SP and 50 Plus hope for that. “The pensions are now certain, and they are becoming uncertain, they are now fixed and are becoming variable. And the entire conversion of your current pension entitlement with a conversion to your new pension is a big black box,” says senator Martin van Rooijen of 50 Plus.

The CDA’s scientific advisers are now joining the opponents. The question is whether the CDA senators will allow themselves to be influenced by this, but even without the CDA there is a good chance of a majority for the pension law in the Senate. Van Rooijen: “But maybe if they listen carefully in this debate, including me, they will think ‘should we support that law?'”

Senator Ria Oomen of the CDA does not deny that the pressure is high. According to her, her group will make an independent assessment and will not just sign the cross. The warning from the CDA scientists does not change that, says Oomen. “We test whether the introduction is lawful, we test whether everyone gets their right and we test whether it is feasible.”

The CDA party in the Senate says it is far from satisfied with what is now. The party especially wants additional commitments to ensure a smooth transition to the new pension system. It must also become clearer how people can object if they do not agree with their transitional arrangements.

In addition, the pension funds must be given more time and be able to set aside more and longer money in case something does go wrong. And pension funds must be able to learn from each other when converting pensions.

But the senate fraction of the CDA remains in principle in favour. Oomen: “We know that a new system is needed because the other one no longer functioned.”

In the House of Representatives, after hours of debates, VVD, D66, CDA, ChristenUnie, GroenLinks, PvdA, SGP and Volt voted in favour. It was a clear majority of 93 to 48.

These parties have a majority in the current and probably also in the new Senate.

The discussions in the Senate are on Mondays and Tuesdays, from 10 a.m. until probably late in the evening. They seem to be getting just as fierce as those in the House of Representatives.

The plan is that on Tuesday 30 May, the day that the Provincial States members elect a new Senate, the ‘old’ Senate will vote on it. There are no objections to this according to the statutory election rules.