The pensioners whose pensions after the indexation of April 1 exceeded 1 500 lei will not be able to keep the bonus of 180 lei in full amount because the Government rejected an amendment proposed by the Parliament’s commission on social protection, which suggested keeping the bonus in full amount for those whose indexed pensions vary between 1 500 and 1 655 lei, Communist MP Oxana Domenti, who chairs the commission and who is the author of the legislative initiative on pensions, stated for IPN. However, Parliament adopted in the final reading the bill put forward by the Government, IPN reports.
“The Government, which is supported by the parliamentary alliance, proposed a cheaper variant. Its law provides that the pensioners whose pension exceeded 1 500 lei after the April 1 indexation will only be compensated for the losses that these sustained so that they get the same amount as before April 1. In other words, the pensioners who lost the right to the bonus will have a compensation that will make the size of the pension equal to that before April 1. So, if a pensioner had a pension together with the bonus of 1 505 lei before indexation, he will get the same sum now and will practically not feel the 10% rise in pensions,” stated Oxana Domenti.
According to her, the representatives of the Party of Communists accused the Government of saving money based on the most vulnerable categories and insisted that the commission’s proposal should be examined together with the Communist MPs’ bill that proposed solutions. “The solution was to provide a lump sum of 200 lei a month to all the pensioners (except for those enjoying privileges), without capping the size of pensions. This would be a component of the pension called the basic pension that would increase the pensions determined by the current method. The basic pension would substitute the bonus to pensions for all the persons receiving old-age pension,” explained Oxana Domenti.
“The bill was passed in the first reading and was supported by the whole Parliament, and was included in the agenda of the legislature’s April 28 sitting, but the parliamentary alliance changed its mind and withdrew it. In protest, the Communists left the assembly hall.”
On April 28, Parliament passed a bill proposed by the Government by which over 34,000 pensioners are restored the right to get the bonus to pension of which they were deprived as a result of the recent indexation of pensions. Over 18 million lei will be needed this year to put this law into practice.
