As 2026 approaches, the European Union faces an exceptionally dense policy agenda in financial services. In the final weeks of 2025, the European Commission unveiled several initiatives under the umbrella of the Savings and Investments Union (SIU), spanning pensions, capital markets integration and sustainable finance. Together, these measures will shape much of the regulatory debate and implementation work over the coming year.

On 20 November, the Commission presented a package aimed at improving access to supplementary pensions, responding to demographic pressures and increasingly fragmented career paths. The objective is clear: to strengthen retirement outcomes by encouraging occupational and personal pension savings alongside public systems. However, while the direction is understandable, the proposed tools raise important questions about effectiveness and proportionality

The Recommendation on auto-enrolment, pension tracking systems and national dashboards reflects a.…