Romanian Parliament Adopts Pension Bill

Debates on the pension bill were attended both by Prime Minister Emil Boc and Labor Minister Ioan Botis.

Deputies decided to keep the retirement age at 65 years for both men and women, after they rejected an amendment setting the retirement age at 65 years for men and 63 years for women.

Deputies also rejected an amendment whereby the pension point, an indicator used by authorities to calculate pensions, should be of 45% of the gross wage, and set it at 732.5 lei (EUR1=RON 4.2394), as proposed by the Government.

Deputies also adopted an amendment whereby people who gain income from freelance activities, other than salary income, must pay contributions to the public pension system. They decided to include military staff, police officers and public servants with special status, who work in penitentiary administration, national defense, public order and national safety, in the unitary pension system.

The pension bill had been tacitly adopted by the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies had the last say on the matter. The normative act will be sent to the president to be promulgated.

In August, the Romanian Government asked the International Monetary Fund to extend until September 30 the deadline by which the unitary pension bill should be adopted in Parliament, after the IMF called on authorities to make sure the draft law was adopted by September 15.

The adoption of a new unitary pension law is one of the conditions Romania must meet in order to receive a new installment of a loan granted by the IMF, the European Union and other foreign lenders.