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

Asked whether pensions below 1,000 lei (EUR1=RON4.1838) might not be reduced by 15%, Vladescu stressed that differentiated pension cuts are out of the question.

Romania's Labor Minister Mihai Seitan on Tuesday said the authorities have never talked about not reducing pensions below RON1,000 by 15%, like all other pensions, and stressed he never told retirees that pensions below RON1,000 will not be reduced. According to Seitan, retirees were the ones who requested that pensions below RON1,000 be kept unchanged and he only told them their requests and propositions will be discussed and analyzed during the Government's meeting Wednesday.

Earlier Tuesday, pensioners' representative Cristea Toader said Seitan told pensioners who protested at the ministry's headquarters that pensions below RON1,000 will not be reduced by 15%, adding he will uphold the measure during Wednesday's Government meeting.

Toader said, after talks with Seitan, the minister told them pensions below RON1,000 will not be reduced and pledged pensioners will receive treatment tickets in July and August. Toader pointed out that, even if the minister keeps his promise, pensioners will still stage protests to persuade authorities to keep the pension point at 45% of the average gross salary.

The Government has pledged to drastically cut public spending to tighten the country's budget deficit at 6.8% of GDP, in order for the International Monetary Fund and other international institutions to release a new installment of a EUR20 billion rescue loan agreed last year. Austerity measures entail wage cuts of 25% and pension and social welfare cuts of 15%. Thousands of people staged the biggest rally of the past 19 years outside the government building last week, trying to pressure authorities' into watering down their austerity plan.

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