I wish that by January 1 pension law be promulgated, entire pension reform ready, says PM Ciolacu

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Published: 27/09/2023 19:31

Sursa foto: Guvernul Romaniei

Prime minister Marcel Ciolacu declared, on Wednesday, for the private broadcaster Digi24, that he wants the new pension law to be promulgated by January 1, and that all procedures regarding special pensions should be completed by November 1.

He mentioned that, together with the World Bank and the European Commission, it was decided to follow the option that closes the inequities within the pension law, agerpres reports.

"I'll take the first scenario that I agreed with the Commission, the one in which the inequities are greatly reduced. For example, there are people who have worked for 30 years and have a pension from (former Agricultural Production Cooperative, ed. n.) CAP of 1,000 RON, 1,500 RON. There was no (agricultural pension, ed. n.) contribution during Ceausescu's time. Shall I dig him out of the grave to scold him? That's what he thought then. That was the communist system. (...) There are some inequities. This is the first option," explained the prime minister, adding that, after the adoption of the new law, pensions will increase by 5%, the large ones, but also by 20, 40%, the smaller ones.

According to the prime minister, negotiations are still underway with the European Commission regarding special pensions.

"The last negotiations we have, there are still three things to negotiate, are where we fit with the calculation, which months are taken into account when the magistrates' pension is calculated. You know very well that it was on a single month, the last month. Do you remember a prosecutor general who came out with 120,000 (RON), that he put all his income in one month? A PG of Romania, to do a trick to put all their income in the last month, to retire with 120,000 (RON). Their is no greater insult one can do in front of an entire people, after you were a prosecutor, meaning that you were delivering justice in Romania. It's this negotiation, the last draft was sent by the Ministry of Justice 48 hours ago. We are waiting for the Commission's response, where is the red line, where we can fit in, so that we can make the amendments, pass them through the Parliament," said Ciolacu.

"We must have the entire parliamentary process closed by November 1, including the decision of the Constitutional Court (in case the law will be contested at the CCR, ed. n.). We are a little pressed for time. If we do not close this milestone, we will submit without closing this milestone, and Romania will lose 1.4 billion euros," Marcel Ciolacu concluded.