The Constitutional Court declared
\nunconstitutional the law whereby the special pensions of MPs were eliminated.
\nCourt judges did not discuss the merits of the law, but merely ruled against
\nthe procedure whereby the bill was passed. Although it was not officially
\nlaunched, the bill was swiftly passed through Parliament, in a single day,
\nwhich would allegedly impact the democratic character of the state, the Court
\nargued. The ruling follows after 70 former MPs who lost their special rights
\nregained them in court in several tribunals across the country. In February
\n2021, Parliament adopted the bill tabled by PSD on the elimination of special
\npensions for senators and deputies, to the detriment of another two similar
\ninitiatives submitted by PNL and USR. The only party that abstained at the time
\nwas UDMR, which labeled the bill a populist and contentious law, saying that
\nall special pensions should be eliminated. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Social Democrats reacted to the
\nCourt’s ruling, reiterating their support for the original bill, adding they
\nwould table the bill as many times as the Court deems it necessary. In turn,
\nUSR believes the ruling is a shameful blow given to all Romanians who need a
\nlifetime of honest work to contribute to the pension system and who strive to
\nmake ends meet. USR says it awaits the motivation of the Court, considering
\nthat at the time the bill was passed, the Ombudsman identified no elements of
\nunconstitutionality. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Approximately 820 former MPs who benefited from these
\nspecial pensions before will receive their financial rights for the last 15
\nmonths, during which time payments had been suspended. The list includes former
\nPrime Ministers Adrian N\u0103stase, Petre Roman or Teodor Stolojan. Additionally, a
\nnumber of Constitutional Court judges also received the special pensions,
\nincluding the current Court president, Valer Dorneanu. The special pension
\nreceived by a Romanian member of parliament ranges between 400 Euro, for short
\nterms over 1990-1992, after the collapse of the communist regime, and as much
\nas 2,400 Euro for MPs who served three times. Approximately 10,000 people
\nbenefit from special pensions, half of whom are magistrates, according to the
\nNational Pension Authority. These pensions add to those received by military,
\npolicemen, secret service employees, whose special allowances are paid by the
\nMinistries of Defense and the Interior. 4,452 judges and prosecutors receive
\nspecial pensions, the highest of which stands at some 4,000 Euro. (VP)<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Constitutional Court of Romania declared the law eliminating the special pensions of members of parliament unconstitutional<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":76310,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[30041,30982,29386,29669,32141],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-92151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-constitutional-court","tag-pnl","tag-psd","tag-special-pensions","tag-usr"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n