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Chairman of Save Romania Union (USR) Catalin Drula reacted on Wednesday to Social Democratic Party (PSD) leader Marcel Ciolacu's statements regarding the importance of social equity in increasing pensions, asking the latter why he is "blocking" USR bills aimed at eliminating special pensions for parliamentarians and mayors, told Agerpres.
"Mr. Ciolacu said that he is a social democrat for whom some things are unacceptable. I wonder: special pensions for parliamentarians, of 12,000 RON per month, on top of the normal pension that a parliamentarian gets, are these acceptable? New pensions that will be introduced from January 1, special pensions for mayors, are these acceptable? The fact that the average special pension compared to the average contributory pension is 8 times higher, is it acceptable? And if they are not acceptable, why is Mr. Ciolacu blocking the USR bills aimed at eliminating special pensions for parliamentarians and mayors? One is blocked in the Senate, one is blocked in the Chamber of Deputies," Catalin Drula told Euronews.
He mentioned that according to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) provisions, the pension point could reach 2,000 RON, within the limit of 8.4 percent of GDP.
"They've been making fun of Romania for a year by throwing out these numbers. Do you remember? The PNRR was the problem, the limit of 9.4 percent. I explained to them: they can reach 2,000 RON with the pension point if they want and they still stay within that envelope. Far from reaching it. It is very, very far. The PSD promised 40 percent. The PSD also promised in 2019. There is a stark difference between promises and reality," said Drula.
The USR leader also reacted to Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca's statements that the phased increase of the pension point is unconstitutional.
"I saw Mr. Ciuca saying that it is unconstitutional [to have a phased increase in the pension point, ed.n.]. Is that emergency ordinance for the overtaxation of part-time contracts constitutional? Is it constitutional to work two hours and pay taxes for 8 hours? And, in fact, we will find out the answer to this, because USR will attack the law approving this emergency ordinance, which has cleared today, in an extraordinarily shameful way, the Romanian Parliament, with the PNL [National Liberal Party] votes," the USR leader also said.
The leader of the Social Democratic Party, Marcel Ciolacu, emphasized on November 9 the importance of "social equity" in a "complicated period", noting that as a Social Democratic leader he cannot accept that a pension of 1,800 RON be increased by 270 RON and a pension of 18,000 RON to increase by 2,700 RON, namely ten times more.
Subsequently, Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, leader of the PNL, declared that the envelope for increasing pensions must be 15 percent and emphasized that the phased increase of the pension point is unconstitutional.
