The draft law on pensions – adopted by the plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies

The plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies adopted, on Monday, the draft law on pensions, developed by the Government. 199 votes “for”, 39 votes “against” and 17 abstentions were registered. In the report of the Labor Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, it is emphasized that the draft law has as its regulatory object “the creation of the legal framework for ensuring a financially sustainable pension system, by establishing a calculation formula based on the number of points achieved by each beneficiary, according to the principle of contribution, of a mechanism for indexing pensions that is clear and correlated with economic realities“.

The project aims to strengthen the principle of contribution so that the amount of the pension reflects the professional activity and the contribution to the public pension system, in relation to the income made by the insured. Also, the project aims to ensure adequate and fair pensions for all beneficiaries of the public pension system, as well as the introduction of a new principle of the public pension system, namely the principle of stability of insurance in the public pension system. According to the project, from January 1, 2024, the pension point will be increased by 13.8%, from 1,785 lei to 2,032 lei, and from September 1, 2024, pensions will be increased following recalculation according to the new formula.

The right to pension is obtained after a minimum of 15 years of contributions, without taking into account assimilated non-contributory periods (university studies, military training, medical leave, unemployment, deportation, imprisonment or political detention). At the same time, until 2035, the retirement age for women and men is to be gradually equalized at 65, the project states. Deputies from the Labor Committee have introduced an amendment according to which they benefit from employment under special conditions and activities in electricity production units in coal-based thermal power plants, including coal extraction units, for the personnel directly involved and directly in the use of procedures and equipment specific to the production of electricity and coal extraction.

The project also specifies that Romanian pensioners from the diaspora have the obligation to sign a life certificate. “The non-resident beneficiary has the obligation to sign the life certificate in front of a legal authority in the territory of the state of domicile or permanent residence, as the case may be, the respective authority certifying this fact“, it is stated in the legislative initiative. The draft pension law was also adopted by the Senate last week, and the Chamber of Deputies is the decision-making body in this case.