President Dan: Parliament should decide level of magistrates' pensions

The level of magistrates' pensions should be decided by Parliament, President Nicusor Dan said on Sunday.

"This is a matter for discussion, and I will leave it to Parliament to solve. The Government can make proposals, and Parliament should decide," said Nicusor Dan in Chisinau.

According to the President, "magistrates in Romania have worked far more than their counterparts in other European countries."

He brought to mind that he had proposed extending the transition period until the retirement age for magistrates reaches 65 years from ten to fifteen years.

"I requested 15 years instead of ten years (editor's note - the transition period until the retirement age for magistrates reaches 65), because unlike many other professional categories with service pensions or special pensions, Romanian magistrates have truly worked far more than their counterparts in European countries. A pilot in Romania works as much as a pilot in Spain, a Romanian police officer works as much as a police officer in France, a Romanian soldier works as much as a soldier in Germany. Magistrates - and I had this experience myself almost daily for a time - have, over the years, worked two or three times more than their European counterparts. And so, for someone who has only one year left until retirement, I believe it is reasonable, given the difficult fiscal context we are in, to ask them to work double. That is, if they have one year left, they should work two. If they have three years left until retirement, they should work six. Asking for more than that seems excessive to me, because they have worked hard throughout this entire period," the president explained.