CDA senators will not support the government’s current plans to reform the corporate pension system, Nos television reports on Tuesday.

CDA senator Wopke Hoekstra told KRO radio the party will vote against the proposal, if it is put to the vote in the upper house of parliament in its present form.

The cabinet wants to reduce the amount people can put towards a pension scheme tax free from 2.25% to 1.85% of annual salary. This will save the treasury some €3bn.

Rethink

Ministers hope pension funds will lower their premiums accordingly, but Hoekstra says this is unlikely. Pension funds, including the two biggest, have also urged the government to rethink.

The plan has been passed in the lower house of parliament with the support of the two ruling parties only, but they do not have a majority of seats in the upper house.

The CDA is seen as crucial for ensuring the draft law is put into practice. Hoekstra told the radio programme he is willing to talk to the cabinet if ministers are ‘generous in meeting his fundamental objections’.