BREAKING: Constitutional Court returns special pension law to Parliament, some articles related to magistrates’ pensions unconstitutional

The Constitutional Court has sent back the special pensions law to Parliament on Wednesday, after the constitutional judges found that some articles related to magistrates’ pensions are unconstitutional. The decision regarding magistrates’ pensions was taken unanimously, according to sources from CCR, as reported by G4Media.ro.

The Court has left open the possibility of taxing special pensions, including those of magistrates, on the condition that it does not substantially reduce the pensions and that it is not discriminatory, meaning that the taxation should apply to everyone. The fact that the law was not declared unconstitutional as a whole allows its application concerning certain categories of public servants (such as police officers, military personnel, diplomats, etc.), for which no unconstitutional articles were declared.

Marian Enache, the head of the Constitutional Court, LIVE statements:

Some articles of the special pensions law are unconstitutional.

Reducing the calculation base and other aspects affect the independence of the judiciary.

Recalculating the pensions already in payment affects the non-retroactivity component.

Taxation cannot have a punitive character.

The law will be sent back to Parliament to be brought into line with the decision of the Constitutional Court.

Original article: The Constitutional Court of Romania discussed on Wednesday the referral from the High Court of Cassation and Justice regarding the amendments made in Parliament to the Special Pensions Law, as reported by Agerpres.

On June 29, the High Court of Cassation and Justice referred the Law for the amendment and completion of certain normative acts in the field of service pensions to the Constitutional Court, as well as the normative act regarding the increase of the retirement age.

The project refers to the special pensions of magistrates, military personnel, diplomats, parliamentary officials, Court of Accounts personnel, and aviation staff.

The normative act aims to calculate service pensions based on specialty seniority, reduce the percentage of calculation relative to the income obtained, and align the minimum contributory period with that applied in the public pension system.

According to this law, prosecutors and judges will be able to retire until 2028 under the same conditions as before, meaning regardless of age, if they have 25 years of seniority and benefit from a pension of 80% of the gross allowance and bonuses from the last month of activity. The same retirement conditions provided by the current laws will also apply to military pensioners for the next five years. Additionally, pensions exceeding 4,000 lei net will be taxed at 15%.