Parliament votes against NSC plan to give pensioners more say in new system transition

The NSC’s pension plan was rejected by a single vote in parliament on Tuesday. The results of the vote were 73 against and 72 in favor. NSC’s proposal, which was co-submitted by the PVV, BBB, and SP, would have ensured that Dutch pension scheme members would have a say in the transition to a new pension system. The support from the Partij voor de Dieren and Forum voor Democratie was not enough to garner a majority in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament.

The new bill would have given pension scheme members the option of keeping their pension entitlements in the old system. The proposal was developed by Anges Joseph. Critics of the proposal had warned that this would legal issues and delays that could last years.

The legislative proposal that the new pension plan was connected to was accepted. This ensures that pension funds are given an extra year to arrange the transition to the new system. Many parties voted in favor of this vote, including the SP, Groenlinks-PvdA, Partij voor de Dieren, DENK, Volt, D66, ChristenUnie, SGP, CDA, VVD, and JA21.

According to the AD, one of the main reasons that DENK voted against NSC’s plan is that the PVV was one of the co-submitters. “We are aware of the populist torpedo policy of the PVV and do not wish to contribute in any way to their extreme right-wing agenda, which amounts to creating chaos for our own benefit at the expense of the people of the country,” DENK parliament member Dogukan Ergin said.

Other parties that voted against the proposal were GroenLinks-PvdA, VVD, D66, CDA, SGP, ChristenUnie, Volt, and JA21.

Social affairs minister and NSC party member Eddy van Hijum was not in favor of the plan. He warned that pensions will not be able to rise as easily if people choose to have their entitlements in the old system. He also said that he expects the costs of maintaining two systems at the same time would be considerable.

He was not alone in criticizing the idea. Pension funds, trade unions, employers, and the Council of State were not in favor of the idea.