pensions

Romanian President Says Any Income Should Be Taxed

Romanian President Traian Basescu said Thursday on public television that any income, including the minimum pension and unemployment benefits, should be taxed.

Romania To Add EUR500M To Pension Budget – Labor Min

Romanian Labor Minister Mihai Seitan told a news conference Thursday that the state will not encounter any difficulties in paying pensions this year, adding that the budget revision set for early August will allot a further EUR500 million to the retirement benefit sector.

Recalculating Special Pensions To Save Up To RON300M Each Month – Romanian Labor Min

Romanian Labor Minister Mihail Seitan said Thursday that recalculating special pensions will save the state budget around 300 million lei (EUR1=RON4.3537) per month, and this figure will grow in 2011, after recalculating military pensions.

Romania’s Parliament Eliminates Unconstitutional Provisions From Austerity Plan

Romania’s Parliament Tuesday adopted with 321 to two votes the committee for legal matters’ report on the austerity law package, eliminating the articles that slash pensions, which were recently ruled unconstitutional.

Romanian Parl Legal Committee Purges Unconstitutional Provisions From Austerity Law Pack

The joint committee for legal matters in Romania’s Parliament adopted Monday evening favorable reports on the austerity law package, eliminating the articles slashing or recalculating public pensions which were ruled unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court.

Pensions In 2011 Won’t Be Reduced Further Following This Year’s 15% Slash – Romanian Fin Min

Romanian Finance Minister Sebastian Vladescu said Wednesday it is unlikely pensions will be further reduced in 2011, after this year’s 15% reduction, adding that the pension level in 2011 will be set through the budget law.

Romania Public Sector Staff, Retirees To Get Slashed Wages, Pensions As Of Aug – Fin Min

Romania’s Finance Minister Sebastian Vladescu on Thursday said the 25% cut in public sector salaries and the 15% cut in pensions will be applied to salary and pension rights for July and people will receive reduced salaries and pensions as of August.

Romania’s Ruling Party VP Says Differentiated Taxation Of High Pensions Not A Good Solution

Romania’s ruling Democratic Liberal Party vice-president Ioan Oltean told a press conference Saturday that, as the Government rejected the opposition social democrats’ idea for differentiated taxation of high pensions, it means this clearly isn't a good solution.

Romania PM Says Draft Law Recalculating Special Pensions Adopted By Default In Parliament

Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc on Friday said the draft law recalculating special pensions was adopted by default in Parliament, as it was not subject to a no-confidence motion, and stressed he truly hopes the law will not be subject to any motion whatsoever.

Romania’s Govt Rejects All Amendments To Draft Laws On Austerity Measures

Romania’s Government rejected all amendments to the draft laws for which it will seek a vote of confidence in Parliament on Monday, and preserved the austerity plan that cuts pensions and state employees’ wages and eliminates luxury pensions, Government spokeswoman Ioana Muntean said Saturday.

Romanian Govt Seeks Alternative Spending Cut Solutions Not To Reduce Pensions

Romania’s Prime Minister Emil Boc and the members of his Cabinet met Saturday in an attempt to find alternative spending cut solutions, so that pensions below 1,000 lei (EUR1=RON4.2051) should not be reduced by 15%, people close to the matter told MEDIAFAX Saturday.

Hungarian Minority Party MP Amends Austerity Law Pack, Proposes Pension Freeze Until End-2011

Hungarian minority party lawmaker Gyorgy Frunda has presented several amendments to the draft laws for which the ruling coalition, which includes the Hungarian minority party, plans to seek a confidence vote in Parliament Monday and proposed, among others, to freeze pensions until December 31, 2011.

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

Romanian presidential adviser Sebastian Lazaroiu said Wednesday, during debates on the country’s pension system, that the authorities’ decision to reduce pensions by 15% is meant to maintain balance and avoid a short-term collapse, adding the measure does not solve pension system problems.

Romania To Recalculate All Special Pensions – Labor Ministry

Romania’s law on pension recalculations, for which the Government will seek a confidence vote in Parliament, targets all special pensions, including those of former staff with the Defense and Interior Ministries, intelligence services and penitentiaries, the Labor Ministry announced Tuesday.

Romania To Cut By 15% Benefits For People Assisting First-Degree Disability Pensioners

Romania’s Government decided to reduce by 15%, as of June, 2010, the benefits granted to people having in care pensioners with first-degree disability, and also discarded the financial aid granted to teachers for the purchase of books.

Romanians Fraudulently Receiving Invalidity Pensions Could Face Prison

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.

Romania Scraps Free Public Transport For Revolutionaries, Descendants Of Martyr Heroes

Romanian revolutionaries of December 1989 and descendants of the country’s martyr heroes will no longer get free public road and rail transportation, trousseaus for newborns will be eliminated, along with severance payments for laid off workers.

Romania’s Lower Chamber Defense Committee Wants To Maintain Current Legislation On Military Pensions

Romania’s Chamber of Deputies defense committee approved the pension bill Wednesday, including one amendment which maintains the provisions of current legislation for the defense, public order and national security system.

Romania To Cut All Pensions By 15%, Social Pensions Included – Tourism Min

All Romanian pensions will take a 15% cut, although exemptions for social pensions worth 350 lei (EUR1=RON4.1838) did come up during talks with Romania’s President Traian Basescu, the Minister of Regional Development and Tourism Elena Udrea told MEDIAFAX Tuesday.

Romania Finance Min Says Differentiated Pension Cuts Entail Changes In Pension Point

Romania’s Finance Minister Sebastian Vladescu on Tuesday said that differentiated pensions cuts are not possible because this would imply changing the pension point, an indicator used to calculate pensions.

Pensions Below RON1,000 Won’t Be Reduced By 15%– Romanian Labor Minister

Romania’s Labor Minister Mihai Seitan told pensioners who protested Tuesday at the ministry’s headquarters, that pensions below 1,000 lei (EUR1=RON4.1838) will not be reduced by 15%, adding he will uphold the measure during Wednesday’s Government meeting.

Romania PM: Govt Can Either Pay Reduced Wages, Pensions Or Stop Paying Them As of Dec

Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc said Thursday, before a meeting with unionists for talks on the recently announced spending cut measures, that the Government has two alternatives, namely, either to pay reduced salaries and pensions or no longer pay them as of December 2010.

Several Pension Fund Managers To Withdraw From Mkt If Pvt Pension Contributions Reduced – Assoc

Lowering Romanians’ contributions to mandatory private pension funds (Pillar II) might cause several fund administrators to withdraw from the market, as shareholders of pension administrators will not sustain a business without being certain they will recover investments in a reasonable period.

Lowering Pvt Pension Contributions Pushes System Into Bankruptcy – Association

Lowering Romanians’ contributions to mandatory private pension funds (Pillar II) means “willingly” pushing into bankruptcy both pension fund administrators and their five million private pension contributors, Crinu Andanut, head of private pension association APAPR, said Wednesday.

Romanian Unions Say IMF Deal Can Be Changed To Allow Only 10% Cut In Public Sector Wages

Unionists believe that Romania’s additional letter of intent to the standby agreement with the IMF can be modified so that pensions will not be slashed and the salaries of public sector employees can be cut only by 10% and only in 2010, not by 25% as announced recently.

Romania Forced To Contract New Loan In 2011 Unless It Cuts Wages, Pensions – President

Romanian President Traian Basescu said Sunday that if public salaries and pensions are not reduced, Romania will have to contract a new loan in 2011, which would simply “pawn” the future of the country and of millions of Romanians.

Romanian President Announces Pensions To Decrease By 15%, Public Sector Wage Fund By 25%

Romanian President Traian Basescu said Thursday, after talks with International Monetary Fund officials, pensions will decrease by 15% and salary funds in the public sector by 25%, which will also impact the minimum wage, adding subsidies will be drastically reduced.

Romanian Labor Min Says 180,000 Out Of 4.8 Million Pensions To Be Recalculated

Romanian Labor Minister Mihai Seitan told senators Tuesday 180,000 pensions would be recalculated under the country’s pension bill and the process would take about six months.

Romanian PM Advocates New Pension Law To Make System Sustainable

Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc said Tuesday morning during debates in the Senate that the country’s pension system must be reformed, otherwise the state won’t be able to pay pensions.

Romanian Military Pensions Expected To Be Slashed Up To 69% Under New Pension Law – Min

Romania’s Defense Minister Gabriel Oprea said a recent calculation scenario, at the suggestion of the Labor Ministry, indicated that military staff pensions are to be reduced by 19% up to 69% upon the enforcement of the country's new unitary pension law.

Romanians Working In Canada May Get Pensions From Both Countries Under New Social Security Agreement

Romanian nationals who have worked in Canada and paid social contributions there will get pensions calculated according to contributions in both countries upon retirement.

Romanian Govt Open To Reducing Retirement Age For Mothers

The Romanian Government is open to reducing the retirement age by one year for mothers of two, and by two years for women with more than two children, as well as for people who worked in special conditions, Prime Minister Boc announced Friday, after talks with unions.

Romania Econ Min: Whoever Wants Higher Pension Should Contribute To Pvt Pension System

Romania’s Economy, Commerce and Business Environment Minister Adriean Videanu on Saturday said that people who want higher pensions will have to make pension contributions to the private pension system, as the public pension sector "can no longer uphold" the current pension system.

Romania To Spend Extra RON2B On Pensions Each Year, Unless Fraudulent Retirees Removed

Romania will have to increase its pension budget by two billion lei (EUR1=RON4.0923) each year on the medium-term, unless it can save up by removing people who retired by falsely citing illness or injury from the category of pensioners, according to the government’s draft convergence program.

Around 30% Of Romanian Public Pension Contributors Earn Less Than RON800

Around 30% of Romanian contributors to the public pension system earn less than 800 lei (EUR1=RON4.1054), and about one million of them are registered as earning less than RON600, National Pension House (CNPAS) president Doina Parcalabu said Tuesday.

Romania To Face No Problems Paying Pensions In 2010 – Labor Min

Romanian Labor Minister Mihai Seitan told a news conference Wednesday Romania will face no problems paying pensions in 2010, as EUR1.7 billion will be allotted from the state budget to serve this purpose, adding the minimum social pension will be set depending on the inflation rate.

Romania Has No Plans To Tax Pensions – Finance Minister

Romania’s Finance Ministry doesn’t plan to tax pensions and it isn’t planning a public debate on the matter, Finance Minister Sebastian Vladescu told MEDIAFAX Monday.

Romania Ups Penalties For Early Retirement To 45% From 30%

Romanian Labor Minister Mihai Seitan said Thursday the country's new pension law increases penalties for early retirement to 45% from 30%, adding the number of people taking early retirement pensions has tripled since 2001.

Romanian Military, Police, Special Services Employees To Pay Higher Social Security Contributions

Employees of the Romanian military, police or special services will have to pay 10.5% of their gross wages as social security contributions starting with 2011, up from 5% at present, but their salaries will be increased to account for the tax hike.

Only Social Pensions Can Be Updated, Other Increases Depend On Budget – Romanian PM

Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc said the Government can bring only the minimum pension in line with the rate of inflation and perhaps increase the smallest pensions through a social initiative Fund, but this depends on the resources created by the economy’s evolution in following months.