Jetta Klijnsma, state secretary for Social Affairs, came up with a "middle way", consisting of elements of both earlier proposed nominal and real contracts. She explained that limitations in these contracts had caused her to review her proposals. "The nominal contract lacked the option of properly smoothing out financial shocks, as well as a sufficient perspective for long-term investment policy for indexation", Klijnsma said.
She also acknowledged that the proposed contract in real terms offered only limited options for indexation. In a letter to Parliament, the state secretary added that two different arrangements would not lead to an unequivocal framework or clarity, and would also increase the costs of pension provision.
The state secretary indicated that, while fleshing out the new variant, she would focus on the smoothing method for financial shocks and clarity the rules for rights cuts during hard times. She also said she would look at the possibility of basing the contributions on the 10-year average of interest rates, in order to achieve stable and cost-covering contributions.
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