Notes from Europe – Page 5
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Opinion Pieces
What's outstanding
The EU’s institutional world is starting a new term. Now that the parliamentary elections are over, the commissioners have only until the end of October before their replacements take up office. With the increasing presence of euro-sceptic MEPs, it could be a stressful five years ahead.
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Opinion Pieces
Lighting dark corners
The European Commission’s planned revisions to rules on shareholder rights aim to encourage a culture of long-term equity investment across the EU.
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Opinion Pieces
The countdown begins
The countdown has started. By the end of May, 751 members of the European Parliament will have been selected by as many of the 400m electors who care enough to vote.
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Opinion Pieces
Towards a 29th regime
A single-market regime for third-pillar pensions has moved closer with a paper entitled Towards an EU-Single Market for Personal Pensions from the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA).
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Opinion Pieces
Brussels to develop rules for social funds
Brussels looks set to flesh out the existing EU regulation for European Social Entrepreneurship Funds (EuSEFs), which lays down broad principles as to how funds should be governed.
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Opinion Pieces
Long-term critics
The European Commission’s report on responses to its consultation paper on long-term investing looks to be at least six months late. But don’t imagine the debate has gone away. The issue is likely to re-ignite in Brussels in the coming months after the Commission produces its assessment this quarter.
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Opinion Pieces
A phoney war for KID
A phoney war is in operation. No guns are being fired. No bombs falling. But there a number of indications of an arms race over the matter of a simple two page information document known as KID – and its possible extension to cover the occupational pension sector.
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Opinion Pieces
A Lithuanian bottleneck
Yet another Brussels go-slow on IORP II legislative revisions? Yes, but it’s not just rules for occupational pensions. A let’s-put-off-until-tomorrow syndrome is hammering swathes of financial legislation and the Brussels machine is now close to deadlock.
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Opinion Pieces
IORP governance
Suggestions to make the basis for a systematic set of codified rules to cover the governance of occupational pension schemes across the entire EU have emerged from a working group of pension stakeholders.
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Opinion Pieces
Happy in the hot seat
Jeremy Woolfe asks Gabriel Bernardino, the chairman of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority, about the challenges he faces stuck in the crossfire of the conflicting interests of the European pensions industry
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Opinion Pieces
A long-term dream
Philippe Maystadt, former Belgian finance minister and European Investment Bank (EIB) president, recently fleshed out the European Commission’s policy paper to promote long-term investment.
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Opinion Pieces
The growth agenda
The European Commission’s green paper, Long-term Financing of the European Economy, is a rarity– it gets applause from all quarters.
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Opinion Pieces
Anti-SII bloc victory?
The bloc of EU member states opposed to the inclusion of Solvency II-inspired provisions in the planned IORP II Directive, appear to be on the road to victory.
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Opinion Pieces
Letter from Brussels: Social and labour issues
Disputes between Brussels and national governments are likely to emerge when the European Commission unveils in June its position on the rules concerning national social and labour law (SLL).
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Opinion Pieces
Letter from Brussels: Enforcement problems
Enhancement to the EU’s successful UCITS legislation for cross-border collective investments is now underway. But there are nagging concerns that whatever the outcome for UCITS V, the good work could be undone by member states and their judicial systems failing to enforce common rules.
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Opinion Pieces
Letter from Brussels: Soup-kitchen future?
There are increasing forecasts of widespread poverty for Europe’s pensioners in future decades. For a start, there are the 60m citizens in the EU who do not have an occupational scheme. Longevity combined with feeble returns on investment, plus millions of young, non-contributing unemployed people, support the forecast of misery.
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Opinion Pieces
Letter from Brussels: Deaf ears for EC claims
Summer 2013 might be some way off but it is when the European Commission intends to publish its proposals for IORP II. And signs from the Commission are that the usual procrastination is no longer intended.
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Opinion Pieces
Letter from Brussels: Lack of trust blamed for low savings
While euro-zone household savings, including retirement provision, grew steadily from around €600bn gross savings at the end of the century to a peak of €910bn in 2009, they fell to €834bn by 2011.
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Opinion Pieces
Letter from Brussels: EU clears the decks
The Brussels legislative programme for the financial sector will be as frenetic as ever from now until early 2013. It is a race to achieve as much as possible before electoral canvassing by MEPs starts ahead of the parliamentary elections in May 2014.
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Opinion Pieces
Letter from Brussels: Ins and outs of ‘flexileg’
In the old days, an international investment bank could study a Brussels Directive or Regulation and make plans.
