Romania’s Government does not exclude introducing the possibility for employees to continue working until the age of 70 if they wish to do so, deputy prime minister Raluca Turcan said in a press conference on January 8.

She added, however, that Romania is not ready for raising the mandatory retirement age required for full retirement benefits to 70 years - from 63 (women) and 65 years (men).

“At the moment, I do not think that Romania is ready for mandatory retirement at 70 years. But I think a discussion is needed in the public space if people want to opt for raising their retirement age, then they should,” Turcan said, quoted by Adevarul.

“This subject has already been launched in public debate, a project is in the drafting phase and there is also such a project in the Chamber of Deputies that allows work up to 70 years. If one comes to the conclusion that there is support for this idea, it is possible to take this measure,” Turcan said.

In December 2019, labor minister Violeta Alexandru also addressed in general terms the problem of the retirement age and remarked the rising trend seen in other European countries.

She admitted that the circumstances (average life expectancy) are different in Romania compared to other EU states, but she also implied that, sooner or later, this is the trend, or the solution for the public pension systems worldwide.

Deputy PM Turcan’s statements were more specific, but also puzzling. As per Law 263/2010 (public pension law), full retirement benefits are granted conditioned on several conditions that must be simultaneously observed: minimum contribution period (35 years) and minimum age (63 and 65 years for women and men, respectively). Under the same law, the labour contract is terminated when the employer meets the required conditions. However, signing a new labour contract with the same employer is not forbidden - in fact, working after retirement makes the subject of a recent government ordinance. Therefore, the “voluntary retirement age” - a concept used by deputy PM Turcan in her statements makes not much sense.

(Photo: Raluca Turcan Facebook Page)

editor@romania-insider.com