The second edition of European Retirement Week kicked off with an in-person launch event on Monday 28 November.
The event featured keynote speeches by Mairead McGuinness, European Commissioner for financial services, financial stability and Capital Markets Union and Nicolas Schmit, European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights. The event also included a conversation about the pension challenge with EIOPA Chair, Petra Hielkema.
Speakers
Mairead McGuinness
European Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Union
Mairead McGuinness was appointed European Commissioner in late 2020, having previously been a first vice-president of the European Parliament, where she had served as an MEP for Ireland since 2004. She previously spent 24 years as a journalist, broadcaster and commentator.
Nicolas Schmit
European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights
Nicolas Schmit was appointed Commissioner in 2019, where he is responsible for strengthening the EU's social dimension and ensuring support for workers and job seekers.
A member of the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party, he was previously an MEP and a member of the government of Luxembourg, where he served as Minister for Labour, Employment and the Social and Solidarity Economy between 2013 and 2018.
Petra Hielkema
Chairperson
European Insurance & Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA)
Hielkema became chairperson in September 2021. She is also a member of the steering committee of the European Systemic Risk Board and of the executive committee of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors.
Previously, she was division director responsible for insurance supervision at the Dutch central bank, which she joined in 2007.
Prior to that, Hielkema had an international career in the oil and gas industry. She has master’s degrees in law and economics and in Russian studies.
Maria Demertzis
Deputy director
Bruegel
Maria Demertzis is the Deputy Director at Bruegel and part-time Professor of Economic Policy at the School of Transnational Governance at the European University Institute in Florence. She has previously worked at the European Commission and the research department of the Dutch Central Bank. She has also held academic positions at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government in the USA and the University of Strathclyde in the UK, from where she holds a PhD in economics. She has published extensively in international academic journals and contributed regular policy inputs to both the European Commission's and the Dutch Central Bank's policy outlets. She contributes regularly to national and international press.