Brussels: The Council of the EU agreed its negotiating position on a revamped pan-European pension product on 24 June 2026, aiming to turn a niche and underused savings vehicle into a mainstream tool that channels household money into Europe’s economy. Ministers cast the pension product as a cornerstone of the bloc’s savings and investments union.
The pan-European personal pension product, known as the PEPP, launched in 2019 but attracted almost no take-up. Providers complained that a strict 1% fee cap made the product commercially unviable, while savers found the rules cumbersome. The Council’s agreed position scraps that cap and strips away several layers of friction.
Under the ministers’ text, providers would no longer have to give mandatory investment advice before selling a basic PEPP; savers could instead request advice when they want it, with tailored, more complex products still requiring it. The Council also kept the Commission’s plan to let up to 5% of a basic PEPP’s portfolio flow into alternative assets, giving providers room to chase higher returns.
Employers would be able to contribute to a worker’s PEPP where both sides agree, a change that could push the pension product into workplace savings schemes for the first time. Governments hope that feature helps mobile workers, freelancers and younger savers who rarely stay in one national system long enough to build a solid retirement pot.
The economic stakes are large. The Draghi report estimated that Europe needs an extra €750 to €800 billion of investment each year by 2030, and Brussels wants to unlock the vast pool of household savings currently sitting in low-yield bank deposits. The Commission frames the pension product as one channel for that shift, alongside deeper capital markets and simpler cross-border rules, as its savings and investments union strategy sets out.
Not everything survived the negotiations. The Council dropped proposed provisions on tax treatment, extra EU-level supervision and a value-for-money framework, reflecting member states’ reluctance to cede control over pensions and taxation. Consumer advocates warn that removing the fee cap could expose savers to higher charges unless competition among providers stays fierce.
The Council position now sets up talks with the European Parliament, where lawmakers led by rapporteurs on the economic affairs committee will press their own priorities on transparency and costs. If the two sides strike a deal later this year, the revamped pension product could reach the market by 2027, giving the savings and investments union one of its first concrete consumer-facing wins.
