Workplace pension schemes represent social, labor market, and economic goals. They provide social protection in old age and serve as staff retention device for firms' most valuable employees. They have also been used as a financial service instrument to complete the single market in the European Union (EU). While much has been written about the social function of workplace pensions, less attention has been devoted to the use of pensions as market-making device in the EU. Yet, studying the role of workplace pensions in the EU's internal market is intriguing because it highlights tensions between supranational regulations and domestic pension systems.

In the European Union, age-related spending represents a large share of public expenditure and is therefore an issue of common concern among the member states. Pensions from public pay-as-you-go (PAYG) schemes are the main source of income for older Europeans. In 2012, the EU as a whole spent more than 10 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) on PAYG pensions. This share is expected to rise to 12.5 percent of GDP in 2060 (European Commission, 2012b: 4). Due to declining fertility rates and increased life expectancy, the population aged sixty-five and above is expected to increase markedly in the coming decades. This group will almost double, rising from 87.5 million in 2010 to 152.6 million in 2060 in the EU (European Commission, 2012a). Unfavorable demographic developments, falling employment rates, and persistent financial instability put enormous pressure on public budgets and make it harder for state pension systems to deliver on benefit promises.