Step by step, the European Commission is trying to establish a single pan-European pension arrangement that, beginning from this year, will start paying the first contributions. The plan will be carried out through RESAVER (Retirement Savings Vehicle for European Research Institutions), an initiative of the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, with a group of committed employer who - in October 2014- united their forces to create the RESAVER Consortium. A framework contract of EUR 4 million awarded in December covers the initial set-up costs for the first four-years.

The need to establish such a mechanism originates from the difficulties that many researchers currently face in preserving their supplementary pension benefits when moving between different countries. Once put in place, the RESAVER initiative would allow researchers to move freely in the European Economic Area without having to worry about preserving their supplementary pension benefits. The initiative will help to foster researchers’ mobility and to get closer to a true single market for research with the European Research Area (ERA).