Romania’s Decision To Reduce Pensions Meant To Avoid Short-Term Collapse, Problems Not Solved

Lazaroiu highlighted Romania's pensioners outnumber the country's employees. He went to say that, of the total number of pensioners, only 1.8 million fully contributed to the pension system, while 2.2 million are early retirees or have retired on medical grounds. About 900,000 of the latter receive invalidity pensions.

The presidential adviser said that the abuses and frauds that were made in the pension system over the past 20 years were the result of the collusion between politicians, public servants, pensioners and doctors.

Romanian Academic Society representative Suzana Dobre said the current pension fund deficit is of 1.3% of the gross domestic product. She highlighted that the state allots 7.5% of the GDP to pay pensions, while the education sector receives only 3.5%-4% of the GDP.

An amendment brought by the Romanian Government to the draft law regarding pension cuts, which was sent to Parliament for a confidence vote, states that Romanians who were fraudulently declared disabled in order to receive invalidity pensions and the doctors who carried out the respective medical examinations and issued unjustified invalidity certificates will be deemed offenders and might face imprisonment.

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.

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 adopted two draft laws that make up its austerity measures and plans to seek a confidence vote in Parliament to pass them into laws. The decision to slash pensions by 15% and state employees' salaries by 25% is among the most controversial austerity measures announced by the Executive.

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