A report in the trade press has highlighted serious doubts on the part of the Dutch government over the prospect of pensions portability in Europe.

Representatives of the ruling Christian Democrat party have told Investment and Pensions Europe’s (IPE) online edition that they fear implementation of the pensions portability directive could lead to Dutch savings flowing out of the country.

The Christian Democrats’ pensions spokesman Pieter Omtzigt told IPE that, in the Netherlands we have saved around E600 billion in our pension system, which is largely a savings system.

However, in most other European countries the pension system is based on a pay-as-you-go system, meaning no savings exists at all, he added.

To prevent the possibility that part of the Dutch pension savings are leaving the country, we feel that it will be better not to allow portability of pension savings.