Public pensions privatisation in Western Europe has been seen as being part of a broader programme of welfare retrenchment, informed by neoliberal values, that will intensify poverty among future generations of pensioners. Whilst such fears should not be dismissed lightly, we argue that the notion of welfare privatisation is conceptually much broader than the free-market model posited by neoliberalism. Reflecting this, many of the public pensions privatisation initiatives that have been introduced in Western Europe have been informed by its collectivist ideological heritage and, to varying degrees, are consistent with the notion of collective responsibility for needs-satisfaction.European civilisation is underpinned by values Europe's leaders could not give up even if they wanted to; for their roots lie deep and define what it means to be European. (Hutton, 2002: 357)