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The 9.4% threshold of the GDP which limits expenses with pensions will be made more flexible, said the Minister of Labor and Social Solidarity, Marius Budai, during a press conference organized at the end of the meeting he had with the European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit.
"I discussed with the commissioner an extremely important aspect about the pension system and explained to him why it is imperative when I am requesting for the 9.4% percentage to be made more flexible. This is how it will be in the future, this 9.4% percentage will be made more flexible, from several reasons. We both agreed that making the public pension system more sustainable is very important, as it should be, and we support this," Marius Budai said, Agerpres.ro informs.
The Minister of Labor mentioned that he will prove to the European Commission that placing pensions in the 9.4% percentage will lead to the impoverishment of the population. He said that "we will keep proving in the talks that we will have with the European Commission, why we cannot fall under that percentage. (...) because in the end that is the essence of the European Union, fighting against poverty and personally, I will fight as long as I will be minister and I will not sign any reform (...) which will maintain or lead to impoverishing the Romanian citizens. That is what I told the commissioner and I will keep going to any discussions," Marius Budai specified.
The Minister of Labor considered that the most important achievement during Thursday's discussion with the European commissioner is the fact that the 9.4% percentage no longer represents a non-negotiable aspect.
"No date has been established (for renegotiating GDP percentage allocation for pensions, ed. n), whether it is April 1, or May 1. We said that we are carrying out discussions during the assistance contract with the World Bank and we will see, throughout the technical assistance, where we are headed (...) the world is changing, the situation is changing. I presented this to the commissioner, who will present it to the European Commission and so on, the exact income structure from the Romanian pension system, the reason why that percentage is not plentiful for solving inequities from the public system and because it no longer allows further increases," Marius Budai declared.
