Minimum Standards in Old Age Security and the Problem of Poverty in Old Age

The prevention of poverty in old age, or, more positively, the securing of a basic minimum of existence, is certainly a widely shared goal in social policy. It is, for instance, laid down in the second draft of the European Community Charter of Fundamental Social Rights (1989, No. 27): ‘Every person in retirement or early retirement shall be able to enjoy resources affording him or her a decent standard of living.’ Nobody is overtly opposed to it, but there are certainly various interpretations of its contents and scope. Above all, a fundamental ambiguity exists concerning the question whether such minimum standards should be institutionalized ‘as of right’ by standard social insurance or demogrant schemes or only by means-tested social assistance, subsidiary to other available resources. The Social Charter, as a minimalist agreement among the member states, has here opted for the second variant (1989: No. 28): Any person who has reached retirement age but who is not entitled to a pension for whatever reason or who does not have other adequate means of subsistence shall be entitled to a minimum income, modulated or complemented by social protection and medical and social assistance specifically suited to their needs and as wide an access as possible to such assistance.