BREAKING Special pensions law passed by Senate / Bill goes to President Iohannis for promulgation / Why USR voted against the bill

The special pension law was voted on and passed by the Senate on Wednesday. The law goes to President Klaus Iohannis for promulgation. In the Senate there were 91 votes „for”, 19 „against” and one abstention, according to Agerpres.ro.

The law was first passed by the Senate and then by the Chamber of Deputies, but here major changes were made, so the bill had to return to the Senate. This time, the Senate adopted the law as it came from the Chamber of Deputies, and now it will go for promulgation.

The USR said it voted against the bill because it does nothing more than „save special pensions”. The USR argues that the bill does not actually cut any special pensions and does not ensure overall fairness and does not reduce pension spending:

„The USR group voted against this law (…) because you are in fact only saving special pensions. We cannot vote for a law that should have been called the law to save special pensions. Why? First, because you didn’t cut any special pensions. Second, you’re not moving any special pensions to contributory. Third, you have not made any real reform in the pension system and you are not ensuring the overall fairness that Romanians are asking for. Four, you have cut almost no spending on special pensions, which is exactly what we have committed to in the NRRP and what the European Commission is asking us to do. Five, you have not respected the milestone”, the USR representative told the Senate plenary.