The special pensions reform under the scrutiny

The so-called special pensions is an unpleasant issue on the agenda of the government in Bucharest

Bogdan Matei, 12.05.2023, 14:00

Under the protocols of the incumbent ruling coalition in Bucharest, the PSD leader Marcel Ciolacu will be replacing Liberal leader Nicolae Ciuca as Romanias Prime Minister. With the mandate, Ciolacu is also going to inherit the prickly issue of the so-called special pensions, which arent complying with the contribution principle and are presently benefitting former MPs, diplomats, magistrates or retired employees of the countrys defence, security and public order structures.

The project of reforming the special pensions system can be endorsed by Parliament by the end of the present session but the assumption of the governments responsibility is also being considered, Ciolacu went on to say. He says that he is having a permanent dialogue on the issue with his party colleague and the incumbent Labour Minister Marius Budăi. The issue, as the future Prime Minister admits, is that the file should have been closed by now as it was included in the third payment request for the funding of the countrys National Plan of Recovery and Resilience, through which Brussels financially supports a part of Romanias reforms and investment.

Budăi is expected to leave for Brussels next week for a new round of talks on this issue with European officials. Until then, the World Bank has completed a report on the impact of the new measures proposed by the coalition regarding the special pensions and according to the press the document shows the result in terms of budget spending cuts would be insignificant. According to WB experts, the progressive taxation of up to 15% of the special pensions will have negligible effects and the same goes for another measure, which eliminated five bonuses and would lead to only a 2% deduction from the servicemens pensions. Defence Minister Angel Tîlvăr, also with the PSD, has again insisted that no one should touch the pensions of the retired soldiers, which arent actually special pensions. The minister argues that a large number of young people should be attracted into the armed forces.

“We are talking in vain about tanks, rockets, corvettes, frigates and the other things that we want and we are going to have. All these things need highly-trained personnel as the Romanian Army presently boasts, and thats why I insist on attracting young people into the army but also on encouraging them to remain in the armed forces by ensuring a certain standard of living and the predictability of a career in this field”, the minister says. The opposition USR says that the PSD and PNL are actually duping the Romanians that they really want to eliminate the special pensions and has dubbed the Liberal Prime Minister Ciuca a three-necktie statesman who is presently benefitting from the special pension of a retired general and will soon add a second one of a former MP.

(bill)