This is confirmed by lawyer and professor of European pension law Hans van Merten after previous reports from the Casa Consumer Program. He claims it “could be in the billions of euros”.

Work Travel Pensions

Van Meerten is a potentially influential lawsuit against employees in the travel industry who built up a pension in Reiswerk Pensioenen. They were greatly reduced after their troubled fund was taken over by the PGB pension fund.

The fund had about 30 thousand participants, reduced to almost 19%. “For example, a judge can decide that any deduction greater than 5% is disproportionate,” says Van Merten. This case may involve millions of euros.

property law

The lawyer, who is also a professor at Utrecht University, argues that there is a property right in the pension due, which cannot be tampered with in this way. In addition, the participants in the fund did not agree to the deduction of their pension or the takeover of their fund.

If the court decides that individual consent is necessary for such actions, this will have dire consequences for the Dutch pension system. It will be difficult for pension funds to implement large discounts.

Switching to the new pension system may also be at risk because individual participants will also have to give permission. “Then there is a problem for Social Affairs Minister Colmés,” van Merten says. He wants to file a subpoena for the Reiswerk Pensioenen participants’ case this month. “I hope a verdict will be reached within six months.”

disappointing

“We understand, of course, that the reduction in pensions is disappointing,” wrote Reiswerk Pensioenen in response to Kassa. According to the fund, the pension reduction was necessary to provide a demonstrable perspective in the future. The PGB says the opponent’s decision was made before it acquired Reiswerk and doesn’t want to say anything about it objectively.

The Dutch Central Bank (DNB), which oversees, has stated that it assesses whether pensions have been properly transferred from one pension fund to another. The DNB can impose a ban if the transfer or pension deduction does not meet the legal requirements. This did not happen in this case.