Pensions and Europe’s Savings and Investments Union

The Savings and Investments Union (SIU) has many important elements: deeper capital markets, more cross-border investment, stronger supervision and better financing of European firms. However, politically its most important dimension is probably pensions.

In November 2025, the European Commission proposed measures to boost supplementary pensions in the EU. The package is part of the SIU and it aims to widen access to occupational and personal pensions. It encourages Member States to introduce pension tracking systems with expected retirement income from different sources, and pension dashboards to help monitor pension coverage and adequacy. It promotes auto-enrolment with the option to opt out and seeks to improve pension products, consumer information and cross-border provision. It also discusses refinements to the Pan-European Personal Pension Product Regulation (European Commission 2025).

There is also movement at the Member State level. Auto-enrolment was introduced in Ireland at the start of 2026. Employees now pay 1.5% of their gross income into their fund. Their employer will match this contribution and the state will also contribute 0.5%. The designated authority will then work with investment managers to invest the funds (NAERSA 2026). Similarly, as of July 2026 in Italy new private-sector employees will be automatically enrolled in an occupational pension fund unless they choose another option (Arora 2026; Commissione di Vigilanza sui Fondi Pensione 2026).

In May 2026, in the Netherlands, plans to open the pension market to firms from other EU Member States were discussed. The Netherlands has the largest pensions system in the European Economic Area, with around €1.9tn of assets under management. Occupational pension assets have historically been required to be organised by domestic pension institutions, but there are plans to open this up to firms from other EU Member States (Livsey 2026). As in most places, Germany’s pension debate is driven by demographic pressure and concerns about sustainability – the latter in particular given that the system is still heavily reliant on pay-as-you-go financing. In June 2026, an expert report proposed the introduction of a Swedish-style fund based on mandatory worker and employer contributions invested in financial assets. This would introduce a larger capital-funded element in German retirement provision (Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs 2026).

For the SIU, the significance of these actions is clear. The changes in Ireland, Italy and the proposed changes in Germany have the potential to create a substantial new stream of capital available for long-term investment. The opening up of the Dutch system could help get capital flowing across borders where it was previously restricted. It also tests one of the core promises of the SIU: that Europe can create a more integrated market for long-term capital without undermining the institutional arrangements with which retirement savings are governed.

Ireland has just taken over the EU presidency and has expressed optimism that it can help secure progress on a European capital markets deal (Foy and Moens 2026). It will need to mediate between Member States that favour deeper financial integration and those wary of transferring too much authority to EU-level supervision.

The broader implication is that the SIU is no longer just about market plumbing. It is increasingly about who controls Europe’s savings, how these savings are invested and how much risk households and workers are expected to bear. Pension assets are attractive because they are long-term, large-scale and potentially well suited to financing innovation, infrastructure and the green transition. But they are also politically sensitive because pension systems are part of national welfare settlements.

This is the first in a series of blog posts on the SIU as part of the new SIU lab.

References

Arora, Muskan. 2026. “Italy Overhauls Pension Enrollment Rules as Regulator Pushes for Broader Coverage.” Markets Group, June 11. https://www.marketsgroup.org/news/italy-overhauls-pension-enrollment-rules-as-regulator-pushes-for-broader-coverage.

Commissione di Vigilanza sui Fondi Pensione. 2026. “Automatic Membership Guidelines – COVIP Resolution of June 19, 2026, COVIP.” https://www.covip.it/la-covip-e-la-sua-attivita/comunicazioni/altre-comunicazioni/direttive-in-materia-di-adesione.

European Commission (European Commission). 2025. “Commission Proposes to Boost Supplementary Pensions to Help Ensure Adequate Retirement Income.” Text. November 20. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_2738.

Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (Webseite Des Bundesministerium Für Arbeit Und Soziales). 2026. “BMAS – Rentenkommission 2026.” https://www.bmas.de/DE/Soziales/Rente-und-Altersvorsorge/Rentenreform-2025/Rentenkommission-2026/rentenkommission-2026.html.

Foy, Henry and Barbara Moens. 2026. “Ireland Says It Can Secure an EU Capital Markets Deal This Year.” EU Capital Markets Union. Financial Times, June 22. https://www.ft.com/content/022cb596-b92a-4fe3-838d-1e536cb95a7d?syn-25a6b1a6=1.

Livsey, Alan. 2026. “Netherlands to Open up €1.5tn Slice of Pensions Market to Foreign Providers.” June 23. https://app-dowjones-com.eu1.proxy.openathens.net/factiva/article?id=drn:archive.newsarticle.FTCMA00020260623em6n000b5.

NAERSA (MyFutureFund.Ie). 2026. “MyFutureFund.” https://myfuturefund.ie/.