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They say the veto is harming UK interests in negotiations over a new pensions Directive, under which European authorities have proposed subjecting pension funds to punishing new solvency standards imported from the insurance industry.
Critics say it could cost UK business between £300 billion and £1 trillion in extra deficit contributions, if pension liabilities are valued using the strictest metrics.
Sharon Bowles, a Liberal Democrat MEP who chairs the European Parliament’s influential Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, said: “I am very worried that the mood music in general is going the wrong way in Parliament at the moment on the Solvency II implementation measures, which apply to insurance companies, and therefore I am fearful of it also going the wrong way for pension schemes in the future.
“At the moment the only countries seriously opposed to applying Solvency II to pension schemes are the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands, which aren’t sufficient to form a blocking majority. And now that the UK is in the dunce’s corner because of David Cameron’s veto, the attitude in some quarters seems to be ‘well, you wouldn’t help us save the euro, so you can kiss goodbye to your pensions then’.”
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