Romanian Lower Chamber Committee Sets Retirement Age To 60 For Women, 64 For Men

This amendment to the pension bill also reduces the minimum number of qualifying years to 10 for both genders, from 15 previously, and the number of years required for a full pension to 30, from 35.

The amendment was proposed and voted by members of the Social Democratic Party and Liberal Party, both in opposition. Earlier, the ruling coalition’s deputies had left the committee’s meeting re-examining the pension bill. They argued that the only topic should be President Traian Basescu’s objection to the bill, namely the retirement age for women, and anything else would make the discussion unconstitutional and against the Chamber’s rules.

On October 7, President Basescu requested the pension bill be re-examined by the Parliament, asking that the retirement age for women be set to 63 instead of 65. On November 10, the Senate rejected Basescu’s request, along with a committee report containing almost a hundred amendments to the bill.