The head of Denmark’s pensions lobby has penned a plea for politicians to safeguard the Danish pension system, warning against hastily moving forward with some of the many reform ideas that have been circulating in the Nordic country since the summer.
Kent Damsgaard, chief executive officer of Insurance & Pension Denmark (IPD), said: “It’s fine to have good ideas to improve Danish people’s pensions. But it is also a core task for politicians to protect the model we have today, which works excellently. We do not need to create uncertainty for the future.”
Writing a column in Monday’s edition of newspaper Jyllands-Posten, the CEO cited proposals from several parts of Danish society before the summer, that – for example – young people ought to be able to have parts of their pension savings paid out for home purchases, or that families with children should have the opportunity to draw on their pension savings to reduce their working hours.
He also mentioned prime minister Mette Frederiksen’s thoughts on adjusting the longevity indexation of the national pension age and the Liberal Party’s proposal to set up a working life commission.
“If the pension assets are to finance the purchase of a home, further education, family time and several years of pension, then there is simply not enough money,” Damsgaard argued.
The Danish pension model had to be renewed in a way that kept it up with the times and the needs of people in the country, he said.
“But we probably also have a big shared responsibility not to destroy it,” he continued.
“It is therefore important that any conceivable reform in the area is long-term, well-thought-out and sustainable,” he said, adding that any reform should include the social partners – trade unions and employers – who he said were ultimately the owners of labour-market pensions.
It was also essential that the Danish Parliament insisted the PAL tax on pension returns was not increased from its current rate of 15.3%, he said, noting that it was worth looking into lowering the levy.
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