The Danish government has named four experts to sit on the new panel tasked with solving problems facing the country’s pension system, and said the pension commission’s first meeting will take place in December.
Under the leadership of former employment minister Jørn Neergaard Larsen, whose appointment as chair of the pension commission was announced back in August, the panel will include two pension fund chief executive officers, according to yesterday’s announcement from the Ministry of Employment.
These are Laila Mortensen, CEO of Industriens Pension as well as chair of industry group Insurance & Pension Denmark (IPD), and Dorrit Vanglo, CEO of LD Pensions.
The other two experts included in the lineup are Hans Jørgen Whitta-Jacobsen, professor of economics at the University of Copenhagen, and Lars Andersen, director of the Economic Council of the Labour Movement, a think tank whose stated purpose is to “prepare and disseminate socio-economic knowledge as well as ideas for solutions to benefit employees and promote social justice”.
In the terms of reference for the commission, which were published by the government in August, it was stated that the commission should consist of “independent experts”.
Peter Hummelgaard, minister for employment, said in the government announcement on Sunday: “I am glad that we are getting such competent people to help us take a closer look at the challenges we face in the pension area.”
He said the government had just agreed on the new right to early retirement for people who had spent many years in the labour market, but added that there was also a need to look at the pension area more generally.
“We are now thoroughly investigating this, including whether the rules give people sufficient financial incentive to save up,” Hummelgaard said.
The ministry said the commission would hold its first meeting in December.
The commission is scheduled to present its report to the government and the other parties behind the agreement on the new right to a “senior pension” for certain workers, in the first quarter of 2022.
Responding to the announcement, Kent Damsgaard, CEO of lobby group IPD said the association was “really happy” Hummelgaard was involving the industry in the work, with Mortensen becoming part of the commission.
“It is important that the industry is represented in the forthcoming work to ensure more flexibility and simplicity,” he said.
IPD said in its response that even though Denmark had recently been named as a world-class pension system once more, there were a number of challenges that should be addressed.
“There should be more flexibility as it is not necessarily an either-or decision to retire,” IPD said.
“At the same time, changes should preferably contribute to making the overall pension system easier for the individual Dane to see as a whole,” it said.
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