The EFRP proposal for a pan-European pension vehicle – the European Institute for Occupational Retirement Provision (EIORP), did not get through last week’s ECOFIN council meeting, tax expert Peter Schonewille said at the conference.
“This was despite the active support for the proposal by the Commission by putting them in its communication on tax,” he noted. However, he added that this did not mean that the EFRP’s work in this direction was wasted.
“You should continue to work on it and put more detail in the proposal,” he said. In addition, he advised that the private project, whereby some countries would pioneer the concept, should be progressed.
Looking at the approach of the communication, Schonewille declared ‘Bachmann’ to be dead and pointed out that it had meant that the cross-border tax deduction of pension contributions was not permitted for the EIORP in the court of justice ruling.
“At the commission we think you can now go to your national court with the communication and obtain a ruling in your favour.”
He mentioned the case of Rolf Dieter Danner, a German who moved to Finland but who wanted to continue his existing German pension. “We hope that the judges in Luxembourg rule favourably in this case.” The case is now due to be heard on December 6.
“The EC is depending on you – you can make the single market a better place. You can take cases to court, you can use the EC communication to help us do our job.” he added.



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