New Pensions Bill Approved By Senate

The Senate approved the bill with 81 votes for and 12 against, as a first chamber, thus sending it to the country’s Lower Chamber. The initiative was passed with all of the amendments added by the chamber’s Labor Committee two weeks ago.

The Romanian Government adopted the new bill on October 10. The bill includes a new calculation method for pensions, which Prime Minister Viorica Dancila said that would gradually increase the value of pension points.

The bill rises the value of the pension point up to RON1,265 in 2019, RON1,775 in 2020 and RON1,875 in 2021.

“This bill is complex, it is based on solid principles, which can be sustained by the budget and for which we consulted with both patronages and unions,” Romanian Prime Minister said at the time.

The bill also included amendments brought following negotiations with unions, through which the reference value point – a new value introduced in the calculation formula by the bill – would rise according to both inflation and the gross median income registered in the country.

It also grants an earlier retirement age for individuals working in abnormal conditions.

“No pension will be lowered following the recalculation. The standard age of retirement will remain the same, as will the contribution service,” Labor Minister Lia Olguta Vasilescu stated following the cabinet meeting which passed the bill.

On November 14, the Senate’s Labor Committee passed a number of minor amendments to the bill, including raising the period of assimilated labor contributions to a maximum of seven years, in the cases where parents take work leaves to raise children with disabilities.

The bill was launched into public debate by the Labor Ministry in August.

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