Pensions and social assistance, reviewed in Parliament

Parliament is to discuss and vote on a new pensions law this week

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Daniela Budu, 13.11.2023, 14:11

A new pensions law will be discussed and voted on this week in the 2 chambers of Romanias Parliament. The document was recently passed by the government, after heated talks between the Liberals and the Social Democrats concerning the impact of the new legislation on the budget in the years to come.

The bill provides for two pension increases, one on January 1 and the other one on September 1, next year.

The law is stable and sustainable, based on respect for lifetime contributions and for work, and the new rules for calculating pension benefits will lead to cancelling current inequities, the labour minister Simona Bucura-Oprescu says:

Simona Bucura-Oprescu: „The new calculation method will lead to major changes. First of all, there will no longer be inequities between Romanians who have done the same work, but retired at different moments. Secondly, we reduce the inequities between men and women. And thirdly, an important injustice that will be tackled is the one concerning the social minimum allowance.”

The government would like the bill rushed through Parliament by November 20, and taking effect on January 1, 2024. The labour and social solidarity minister, Simona Bucura-Oprescu:

Simona Bucura-Oprescu: „We want it finalised by November 20, so as to meet the deadline agreed on with the committee renegotiating the National Recovery and Resilience Plan; the renegotiation concerns, among other things, the 9.4% GDP impact parameter, which would have led to freezing Romanians pension benefits until 2070.”

AUR party in opposition argues that the new legislation benefits people with big pensions. Marius Lulea, AUR senior vice-president:

Marius Lulea: „Romania needs fair pensions, it needs to raise the benefits for the underprivileged categories, but the reform they are aiming at is not a reform that addresses inequities, but rather one that makes poor Romanians even poorer and the rich, the ones who already have privileges, even richer”.

Another legislative package, on the reform of the social assistance system, adopted last week by the Cabinet, has also reached Parliament. The new law will no longer allow the operation of a social assistance centre before on-site inspections, and reduces the duration of provisional permits from one year to 3 months for centres with accommodation facilities and to 6 months for those without accommodation. The new legislation also introduces unannounced inspections, and in case violations are found, the permit will be suspended a lot more quickly.

According to the labour ministry, fines are also increased up to 5 times, to EUR 20,000, in case of abuse. The new provisions come after serious irregularities were uncovered this year following inspections in senior centres in Ilfov County, near Bucharest. Subsequently, centres operating illegally and exploitation and abuse cases instead of specialised care were also identified in other parts of the country. (AMP)