Romanian Pensioners Threaten Protests If Pension Law Goes Through Unamended

Over 200 pensioners met Wednesday at the Senate for talks on the draft pension law, displeased with the value of the pension point, an indicator used by authorities to calculate pensions, and the increase of the retirement age. They said about half a million retirees will stage protests if the Parliament enacts the draft pension law unamended, adding they will also notify international organizations for having their rights breached.

During talks at the Senate, pensioners requested to have a representative in Parliament.

Romanian central bank governor Mugur Isarescu said last week the country's public pension system needs reformation because it is currently unsustainable. Isarescu said the pension point cannot be set at 45% of the average gross wage when contributions are of just 37% and the number of retirees is higher than the number of employees contributing to the public pension system.

Labor Minister Mihai Seitan said recently the pension budget deficit reached 1.5 billion lei (EUR1=RON4.0981) in the first two months of 2010, adding, however, there will be no problem in paying pensions this year.

The minister said the country's public pension system had become unsustainable and ran the risk of posting a deficit of as much as 6% of the country's gross domestic product by 2025, adding the state budget would have to allot EUR2 billion to pay pensions in 2011 if the current pension system is maintained.

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