Liberal finance minister Adrian Caciu confirmed that "analyses and simulations" are carried out with the aim of levying progressive taxation on the "special pensions." At the same time, Social Democrat leader Marcel Ciolacu claimed that the military pensions are not "special" but "occupational", and Social Democrat minister of labour Marius Budai assured that "he doesn't believe that the military pensions are special" and the European Commission will eventually understand this.

In the meantime, prime minister Nicolae Ciuca is the recipient of a pension that brought him RON 215,000 (EUR 40,000) in 2020, more than the wage earned as minister of defence, according to G4media.ro.

The situation is not much different from when the Constitutional Court members - most of them recipients of "special pensions" paid to magistrates - were supposed to decide whether such benefits could be subject to progressive taxation or abolishment.

Under the National Relaunch and Resilience facility (PNRR), Romania must draft and endorse a new Pension Law that would set a balance between the contributions paid to the social security budget during the employment period and the pension received after retirement.

The "special pensions" are those paid from the state budget (as opposed to the social security budget) under special laws, based on other formulas than those of past contributions, and their impact on the public budget increased as more such laws were added. Currently, the bulk of the money goes to former employees of the defence and interior ministries.

iulian@romania-insider.com

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