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Esko Kivisaari |
I am writing these lines while reading the Actuarial Association of Europe (AAE) Newsletter (Issue No 14 – February 2019) and especially its “News from the Institutions”. In the AAE, we are heavily interacting with European institutions including European Commission, EIOPA, European Parliament and the Council of the EU – some of the members of our Board are visiting stakeholders in Brussels on 19 February with our key messages.
The EU is going through many changes during this year. A new Parliament will be elected, a new Commission will be chosen. All of this is happening with implementation of the Brexit in one form or the other. In addition to this, we might be experiencing some form of a return to “normality”, i.e. interest rates that are safely positive. However, I also feel that I am in a good position to play my role as the chairperson of the AAE – my home country Finland will start its Presidency for the second half of this year.
It is important to realise that during its existence, the European Parliament has gained huge importance. In Finland, we will have during this Spring, not only the European Parliament vote but also the election of our own Parliament. It is strange that locally there is much more interest in the election for our national Parliament than on who we will elect for the European Parliament. For example, our media is publishing weekly polls on what will happen with our local Parliament, while I have seen no forecasts about the Finnish seats in the European Parliament. All this while the European Parliament has such a huge impact on our legislation.
In earlier years European legislation was more or less decided by the European Council, in negotiations with the Commission. Today everything happens in these so-called trilogues, where the actual and fairly equal decision makers are the Council and the Parliament, with the Commission acting as the deal maker. This is especially true in the financial sector, including insurance and pensions, where national rules are to a large extent derived from EU legislation. In this sense, it is peculiar that so little Finnish emphasis is on the European Parliament election.
Besides its general importance, the vote of the European Parliament has special importance during this year. Traditionally the two biggest “parties” in the European Parliament have had absolute majority. Both these “parties” have been positive to a harmonised Europe. It is very uncertain whether this will be the case after the elections in the Spring. It can very well be that there is a need for new coalitions in the Parliament (and maybe also in the Council) to avoid Europhobic initiatives. I must stress again that this is my personal opinion – I am personally adamant with the view that it is good for Europe to build a stronger Europe.
There are many things that will continue as before in the future. At least one thing will be emphasised with the Finnish Presidency (and I am personally happy with this). It will be the fact that sustainability, in particular mitigating climate change, will be in the centre of the European agenda. I personally feel the Actuarial profession should have a very central role in this area. We have a lot of thought leadership and analytical capabilities to help our globe to survive – isn’t pooling of risks one of the first inventions to achieve great results with minimal resources?
Notwithstanding my personal opinion on Brexit, the process and decision is something we need to respect. All we can do is to minimise its negative impacts. It is still impossible to anticipate all its consequences. However, I believe that the AAE wishes to maintain the close and fruitful relationship that we have always had with the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.
This blog is written in a personal capacity.
27 February 2019
