Pension Policy After the Crisis: What Role for the EU?

The present paper sheds light on the recent evolution of the pension debate at EU level after the Great Recession. The hypothesis we advance here is that the crisis has shaped the debate and the role of different policy networks, by altering their balance and giving those who are more keen to cost-containment a more prominent role. Section 1 introduces the policy network approach (PNA) to EU policymaking. Section 2 briefly summarises the different ways in which the European Union has intervened in the pension debate: three policy networks are described, their members and the debate developed in the past. Section 3 underlines the most recent key messages from EU institutions after the Great Recession. Section 4 draws some preliminary conclusions on the new set of interconnections between areas of debate which had previously tended to remain compartmentalised. We look at the role of different DGs and the EU guidelines for pension policy.