Another trialogue meeting on revisions to the IORP Directive looks set to be held next week in a bid to strike a deal before the end of the Dutch presidency of the European Union.

Cross-border funding will be one of “a few” issues still open, according to a European Parliament source.

The meeting has not been formally scheduled, but the date should be fixed by the end of the week, he said.

Representatives of the European Parliament, the European Commission and EU member states met last week for a sixth and what was hoped to be final tri-party meeting, but they failed to reach an agreement.

They were said to have made significant progress, however, a point reiterated by the parliamentary source today.

“We are quite optimistic, but I suppose we’ll have to see what the next week gives us in terms of securing a final agreement,” he said.

In the meantime, plenty of discussions and technical meetings are said to be going on in the background.

“There is a lot of work still happening at the moment,” the source said. “But we are hopeful of another meeting to seal the deal.”

Cross-border funding, as previously reported, is one of the topics still being discussed.

According to the source, however, there are others, too, such as depositories and environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.

“It’s a whole package,” he said. 

The European Parliament’s version of the Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provision (IORP) Directive included wording about the consideration of ESG factors in pension funds’ investment process.

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