Romania’s Chamber of Deputies quickly passed the law on special pensions in line with the EU Commission’s request to unblock a third recovery fund instalment on Monday after the Constitutional Court ruled the previous proposal unconstitutional in August.
This legislation on special pensions is an essential milestone for Romania’s third payment request under the national recovery plan.
After a quick passage through parliamentary committees and a vote in the Senate last week, the bill moved quickly through specialised committees in the Chamber of Deputies on Monday, with the Chamber approving the bill the same day, while both the Senate and the Chamber rejected opposition amendments.
Following criticism and observations by the Constitutional Court, the revised law is more lenient towards judges.
Special pension taxation has been increased to 20%, but judges and prosecutors will have their pensions calculated based on their highest career earnings.
However, both the opposition and affected groups still believe the new law is too harsh.
“If you believe that the law will fool the European Commission, you are wrong,” said USR Senator Irineu Darău.
However, the Social Democrats argued that the system could not be “overturned overnight”.
“This is a law to maintain special pensions,” replied USR President Cătălin Drula.
He also said that this form of law was “the most defiant so far”.
Under the law, special pension recipients are guaranteed that their benefits will “remain intact” and “privileges will even be extended compared to the current situation”, he added
(Cătălina Mihai | Sebastian Rotaru | Euractiv.ro)
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