LabMin Budai: There is no way I will give up on raising pensions

Minister of Labour and Social Solidarity Marius Budai said on Tuesday that he will in no way give up on raising pensions, because raising them is a necessity, Agerpres reports.

"Increasing pensions is a necessity, and the Social Democratic Party (PSD) has put it in the government agenda. (...) From my point of view, as labour minister, there is no way I will give up on increasing pensions and ironing out the inequities in the pension system," Budai is quoted a saying by the Labour Ministry.

The minister referred to renegotiating a 9.4%-of-GDP cap on government's state pension outlays included in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).

"There was a discussion at Cotroceni at the beginning of the year in which I endorsed exactly this [pension increases] including in relation to renegotiating that 9.4% of GDP arbitrarily set by Mr Ghinea of the Save Romania Union (USR). Mr. Iohannis inquired into that. We ought not to let the illogical actions of USR under PNRR affect millions of pensioners. We are under an obligation to defend the rights of pensioners," said Budai.