Iohannis: I summon governing people to clarify once and for all their intention on Pillar II

President Klaus Iohannis said on Monday that he is summoning the governing people to clarify once and for all what their intention regarding pension pillar II is, given the "ping-pong of statements" made on this subject. 

"I have noticed, I admit, with much concern what is going on and not only now. (...) I believe that right before the oath-taking of I don't know which PSD [Social Democratic Party, ed.n.] government, I think Tudose Government, at the hearings in Parliament, someone had made the statement that Pillar II was to be dismantled. Since then a ping-pong of statements has occurred: it will be dismantled, it will not be dismantled, it will be nationalized, it will not be nationalized, it will be suspended, it will not be suspended. 

This approach is very, very worrying and it already is at the limit of a dilettante, very toxic governing, and I urge the governing people to clarify once and for all what their intention for Pillar II is, because this is not about public money, it is private money, it is the money of the people who contribute to Pillar II, and you cannot play with that. On the other hand, here we are dealing with a matter that needs to be clarified and planned in the long run. No one pays a pension contribution to receive the money the next day and the greatest risk I see here is that people lose confidence in the state's ability to design and manage the pension system and the people are already asking questions. (...) This needs a firm clarification, I hope a clarification in the sense that PSD does not touch that money and then things can be further built upon," Iohannis said. 

"This pillar was designed, the related legislation was created and people started to pay, believing that when they retire, they will benefit from a supplementary pension. If now, only a few years later, someone starts changing the functioning principle of Pillar II, starts to change the legislation, the whole thing will fall apart," the head of state said. 

"If I remember well, there was someone from PSD who had ideas for modifying Pillar II, an analysis was carried out in 2013-2014 and it was found that these funds had a good yield and then the idea to change things was abandoned. Now, after a few years, the debate is resumed and no architecture can be built in the field of pensions where every two or three years someone who happens to govern starts to question everything," concluded Iohannis.