Romanian Senate To Adopt Draft Pension Law Tacitly

Senators had previously rejected with 52 to 51 votes and three abstentions an amendment setting the pension point, an indicator used by authorities to calculate pensions, at at least 45% of the average gross salary.

Social democrats senators, dissatisfied with the result of the vote, left the meeting and the Senate no longer met the required quorum to continue debates. Therefore, the bill will be adopted tacitly, which entails the draft law will be sent to the Chamber of Deputies in the format drawn up by the Government. The amendments to the draft pension law approved by the Senate’s labor committee or during Senate’s plenary meetings are no longer valid.

Romania’s Government approved in February the draft law reforming the country’s public pension system.

Prime Minister Emil Boc said back then the law is needed so that Romania can continue to pay pensions because the current system is unsustainable and the country would have to borrow billions of euros in a few years just to pay public pensions if the current system were kept.

The government announced recently it would slash public salaries by 25% and pensions by 15% in order to keep the deficit in the new cap agreed with the International Monetary Fund.