Groen Deputy Prime Minister Petra De Sutter wants to get rid of the unequal treatment of married people and legal cohabitants with regard to pensions. “The survivor’s pension is only available to married couples, although more and more couples are legally cohabiting. Women live longer than men, so they are the main victims,” she says on the eve of International Women’s Day and in light of the pension debate that the will be conducted within the federal government in the coming weeks.
De Sutter also points out that women more often reduce their work for the children, either temporarily or partially, as a result of which they do not accrue a full pension and often do not even receive a minimum pension.
In the coming weeks after the spring break, the federal government will consider the pension reform. “It is downright dated and discriminatory that only married couples receive a survivor’s pension or transition allowance when their partner dies. Our pension system makes a distinction between married people and legal cohabitants. There is no legal provision for the latter group. That has to change. Otherwise, our pension system resembles a museum,” says De Sutter.
The Groen Deputy Prime Minister explains that it is mainly women who now feel the consequences of this, because they live the longest. She adds figures: “Firstly, it is clear that marriage in the classical sense of the word is on the decline. In 2020, there were 32,779 couples who married. In the same year, we counted no fewer than 36,329 statements from people who legally started cohabiting. In addition, we know that in 4 out of 5 couples, the man dies first.”
De Sutter therefore argues in favor of adjusting the pension system to the new reality. She also points out that the proposal to link the right to a minimum pension to at least 20 years of effective work also affects women in particular.
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