Romanians Fraudulently Receiving Invalidity Pensions Could Face Prison

The provision is an amendment brought by the Government to the draft law regarding pension cuts, which was sent to Parliament for a confidence vote. The amendment also states that pensioners who fraudulently received invalidity pensions will have to pay back in full the money they were granted.

The Government decided to screen the way in which invalidity pensions were granted, and checkups will be made by the National Pension House through the National Institute for Medical Expertise and Rehabilitation for Work.

The Government said the decision was made in the context in which the number of invalidity pension beneficiaries has significantly increased over the past years and currently accounts for nearly 4.5% of the workforce.

According to the country’s spending cut program agreed on with the International Monetary Fund and the European Union, the Romanian Government decided to freeze early retirement starting June 1, 2010 until the country’s new pension law is enforced, and pensions for incapacitated people will be granted only if previously approved by Labor Ministry medical assessment teams.

National Pension House communication director Angelica Mihail told MEDIAFAX Monday the number of early retirement applications submitted between May 1 and May 20 exceeded 8,300, triple compared to the monthly average registered in 2009.

Romania, which has been hit by the deepest recession in at least 20 years, has pledged to bring the budget deficit to 6.8% of the gross domestic product under the terms of a EUR20 billion IMF-led rescue loan agreed last year. The Government thsi weekend adopted two draft laws that make up its austerity measures and plans to seek a confidence vote in Parliament to pass them into laws, most likely next week. The decision to slash pensions by 15% and state employees’ salaries by 25% is among the most controversial austerity measures announced by the Executive.