I fear the EU will use the (huge) Dutch pension funds to bail out Italy. Just last week the Dutch parliament hurriedly accepted EU regulations that allow the Dutch pension funds to move to other EU countries, which would put them out of scope of Dutch (strict) regulation and could possibly be used in the future by the EU to bail out countries like Italy. One way to achieve this would be by requiring a certain percentage of funds be invested in bad bonds.
More surprising was that Germany decided not to accept these EU regulations for pension funds, which makes some wonder why the Dutch did accept.
Most surprising of all was that all parties in the government promised during last elections that Dutch pension funds would stay under Dutch control. And almost all opposition parties shared the same view. I.e. almost all broke their election promises, which makes no sense at all, unless EU priorities are regarded as more important than Dutch priorities.
If these pension funds are throwing large amounts of money into a dangerous market, that would solely be the fault of Dutch pension fund managers. There are plenty of other non-Dutch instruments they can, and should be investing in.
More surprising was that Germany decided not to accept these EU regulations for pension funds, which makes some wonder why the Dutch did accept.
Most surprising of all was that all parties in the government promised during last elections that Dutch pension funds would stay under Dutch control. And almost all opposition parties shared the same view. I.e. almost all broke their election promises, which makes no sense at all, unless EU priorities are regarded as more important than Dutch priorities.