Romania Govt Mulls Scrapping Public Transport Senior Discounts, Reducing Scholarships

These measures are included in a draft emergency decree pending further elaboration.

The draft sets the elimination of senior discounts for road, railway and subway transport, starting June 1, 2010, as stipulated in Emergency Ordinance 71/2004 on senior dicounts, Law 147/2000 regarding reduced public transport costs for pensioners, the education law and the law regarding the statute of didactic staff.

"Starting June 1, 2010, scholarships for students and research scholarships will be cut by 25%. As of June 1, 2010, the financial aid granted to students, from the Education Ministry's budget, will be cut by 15%," according to the draft act.

The draft also sets that performance allowances, granted on the basis of Law 1118/2002, will also be cut by 25%, alongside life annuities granted to high performance athletes, and the financial aid needed to pay the salaries of clerical and non-clerical staff.

Recession-hit Romania, which is relying on a EUR20 billion IMF-led loan, has pledged to drastically cut public spending and reign in this year's budget deficit to 6.8% of GDP. Cuts include a 25% reduction of public sector salaries and 15% of pensions, unemployment and other social benefits.

In addition, the Government promised to cut the number of public employees by 70,000 this year, to 1.29 million and pledged to "aggressively" revive the privatization program.

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