Friday 5 February 2010

Council waters down conclusions on researchers mobility

I have already commented on the first draft of the "Council conclusions on mobility and career of European researchers" in January and my verdict was very negative.

But now the Council plans to water down the issue I thought was one of the most important parts for mobile researchers - the portability of (supplementary) pensions - as we can see in the second version of the draft (highlights in the original):
WELCOMES TAKES NOTE of the intention of the European Commission to launch a Green Paper on developing a European Framework for adequate and sustainable pensions, and the ongoing work on the portability of supplementary pensions, including those of researchers, that will now be taken forward in this wider context on this issue [...]

INVITES the Commission, in particular, to drawing on the Green Paper process, to examine the need for a new proposal of a Directive initiative on portability of supplementary pensions, taking into account, among other considerations, the specific problems and needs of researchers as highly mobile workers as well as the experiences acquired by supplementary pension providers to overcome mobility disincentives.
Well, Council, why do you draw any conclusion if you don't welcome moves towards transferable pensions or support a concrete directive, erasing the only practical solution included in the original draft conclusions?

Read also: A pan-European pension fund for researchers

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