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The Minister of Defense, Nicolae Ciuca, stressed on Thursday that the military pensions are not special pensions.
"Starting with Alexandru Ioan Cuza (first ruler of the Romanian Principalities and of the national state Romania, since 24 January 1859, ed. n.) until now, the military have benefited from service pensions. The military's legal duties towards the country continue even after they retire, unlike any other category of employees. While in service, the military have almost the lowest pay grade among the public sector employees, although they are permanently at order, stay almost all their lives away from their family, participate in war missions or are in landfills and, very importantly, have several constitutional rights restricted," wrote the Minister of Defense, on his Facebook page.
He mentions that "the military are not allowed to have a second job or their own business, they do not have the right to join trade unions, they cannot go on strike, and their freedom of movement is restricted because they need approvals when they leave the garrison or the country; unlike the other categories of public servants, the military do not enjoy the freedom of assembly, freedom of expression and the right to be elected."
"The military are ready to intervene at any time of the day or night in support of the population in peacetime, in time of war or in special situations, and I give here one example - the situation we are currently experiencing, generated by the COVID-19 pandemic. I think it is very important to understand that we cannot change the rules without analyzing either the system itself or its implications, and I am not referring here only to the financial ones, but to the whole functionality and particularity of the system, the human resources - because the specialists are formed in time, with effort and costs - and, above all, the budgetary impact of this change is not relevant in the whole financial ensemble," underlines the Minister of Defense.
Nicolae Ciuca points out that "every soldier is aware that, when he/she takes the oath, he/she assumes the risks, he/she assumes responsibility for what it means to defend the country even at the cost of his/her life, he/she knows what the limitations, constraints and, again, restricted rights will be, that he/she will have a life full of deprivation, because that is the life of the military."
"The military understand the difficult situation caused by the current pandemic, but they are confident that the country respects them for their sacrifice. After presenting these pieces of information, I conclude with a question: if we have to be equal in retirement, would it not be fair to be equal during active life?!" Minister Ciuca also writes.
