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PM Ciolacu: By a large majority, we put an end to special pensions of MPs; Cumulation of pension and salary is up next.
Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said on Monday that the bill repealing MPs' special pensions was passed by a large majority of Parliament, just as he said when taking over the PM office, mentioning that there have been three governments and four prime ministers of the National Liberal Party (PNL) who would have had time to solve everything they promised in this period, told Agerpres.
"We are on a timetable to recover the payment requests 2 and 3. In terms of what we voted on today, I want to bring you to mind: I do not have a special pension. On the last day of my last two terms in office I resigned. And I believe that if all MPs had done so, we would not be hypocrites at this point, trying to transfer victories and failures from one to another. There was a right-wing majority in Romania, which I know, you know it too. They had time to solve everything they promised during this period. There have been three governments or four times, Mr. Orban was voted twice, there have been four prime ministers of the current PNL coalition members, there has been enough time to solve these problems," Ciolacu said in Parliament, after the adoption of the bill repealing the special pensions of MPs.
Ciolacu said that it started with the removal of MPs' special pensions, taking into account that other categories cannot be asked to give up their special pensions, while MPs maintain these privileges.
"Today we started with the pensions of MPs. It's a fair thing: one cannot ask other categories if one maintains these privileges. There are MEPs who have this privilege, an additional pension for being MEPs. Almost in all Parliaments of the world there is this pension for MPs. The important thing is that politicians adapt to the requirements of their own country and the needs of their own country. I said it at the investiture, 11 days ago. Today you saw, by a large majority - 382 votes - we put an end to the special pensions of MPs. The cumulation of pensions with salary is up next," Ciolacu added.
The prime minister mentioned that there will be exceptions for local elected officials, because the right to be elected exists in the Constitution. "There will be exceptions for actors, the Jewish Theatre, university professors, doctors who are also teachers," Ciolacu said, when referring to cases of exceptions to the repealing of the cumulation of pension with salary.
According to the prime minister, there is a roadmap that will be followed by the Government.
The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate passed on Monday, in a joint sitting, the bill repealing the lawmakers' special pensions. There were 382 votes in favour, 3 abstentions and 3 MPs did not cast a vote.
