Senate adopts draft on public pensions

Senate on Tuesday adopted the draft law on the public pensions systems, according to which pensions of the more than 4.7 beneficiaries will be recalculated based on a new formula.There were 85 cast "in favour" of the project, six "against" and 19 "abstentions."Most of the amendments adopted by the Senate were proposed by the PNL (National Liberal Party) and the PSD (Social Democratic Party).The draft will be further debated by the Deputies Chamber, which is the decision-making forum in this case.   According to the Labor Ministry, which drafted the new pension law, there will be two pension increases next year. The first increase will be on January 1, when pensions will be indexed with the inflation rate, and in September, after recalculation, 3 million pensions will be increased.   ‘In 2024, Romanians’ pensions will increase twice. The first time starting on January 1 when Romanians’ pensions will increase by 13.8 percent. Each of the 4.8 million Romanians will benefit from this. The pension point value will go from 1,785 as it is today to 2,032 lei. It is a significant effort that Romania is making, a form of respect for every Romanian, a form of equity for every Romanian. This will be the first part of the implementation process of the new law,’ stated Labour minister Simona Bucura-Oprescu.   ‘The second part will be the recalculation of pensions and its implementation, starting from September 1. Pensions are paid monthly, so from September, they will have the newly recalculated pensions where they will see exactly the contributory points, non-contributory points, and stability points each of them has, which will undoubtedly lead to an increase in pensions by over 40 percent on average. Every Romanian is important to know that they will not have a lower pension under the new law; the amount will be maintained most favorably, and over 3 million Romanians will have higher pensions,’ she added.   The law, which is assumed through the NRRP, is based on several principles, including the obligation, contributiveness, equality, and stability of coverage in the public pension system. Here are some of the most important provisions.