Present from ELETEA was the President Mr. Christos Nounis, the 2nd Vice-President Mr. Charalampos Fytros and the BoD member, Mr. Charalampos Katsipoulakis, while EIOPA was represented at a high level by Mr. Gabriel Bernardino (Chairman), Manuela Zweimueller (Head of Department of Insurance and Pensions Policy), Dimitris Zafeiris (Head of Risks and Financial Stability Department), Carine Pilot Osborn Expert - Pensions), Barthold Kuipers (Principal Expert on Pension Policy) and Julia Conforti Montasell (Expert Pension Policy Department). The meeting was launched with a welcome and introductory speech by the President of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority, Gabriel Bernardino, on EIOPA topics.
Then, an introductory statement was followed by the President of the Hellenic Union of Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provision, Mr. Christos Nounis on Hellenic Union’s vision and goals as well as a description of the current situation of the occupational insurance industry in Greece was made. Mr. Fytros and Mr. Katsipoulakis presented all actions undertaken by ELETEA in the promotion and further development of the institution of Occupational Pension Funds in our country. They analyzed the current obstacles and problems focusing on the existing high supervisory costs and the need to rationalize these costs for non-profit organizations such as Occupational Pension Funds.
Subsequently, the staff of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority presented in detail all the actions of the Authority concerning the supervision and collection of statistics from the pension professional funds of the Member States of the European Union. Special emphasis by EIOPA officials and long time in the debate was spent on how to implement the 2nd EU Directive 2341/2016 (IORP II Directive) "on the activities and supervision of the Institutions of Occupational Retirement Provision (IORP)", during which important points were clarified and elucidated as to the effective adoption and implementation of the new European supervisory framework.
The last part of the meeting was spent in a general discussion focused on the testimony of the Authority's empirical findings on Best Practice of the 2nd pillar of pan-European insurance under different organizational structures for the operational, supervisory and legal functioning of the Professional Pension Institutions Benefits. On the other hand, the representatives of ELETEA. further analyzed the proposals that the Union has developed and communicated to institutional bodies, political parties and all concerned with the substantial development of the occupational insurance institution in Greece. Finally, it was agreed between the two parties to develop closer co-operation and regular communication on the correct implementation of the new institutional framework for the operation of the Institutions of Occupational Retirement Benefits.
