PDM says MPs’ salaries and pensions should be cut

The Democratic Party (PDM) has said that the salary of MP should be decreased during the crisis by 20-25%, while the percentage for calculating the pensions of the working retired MPs should be reduced from 75% to 40-42%. The leader of the party’s parliamentary group Marian Lupu considers that this way the MPs’ pensions and salaries will be adjusted to the real conditions in the budgetary sector and the collections into the budget will rise, Info-Prim Neo reports. The PDM announced that at one of the next sittings of the Parliament it will propose a bill to modify the law on the salary grades in the budgetary system. “The bill will provide for adjusting the MPs’ salaries to the real conditions in the budgetary sector for the period of the crisis,” Marian Lupu said. According to the MP, the average real salary is two times lower than the salary of an MP. The percentage for calculating the MPs’ pensions exceeds about two times the level used for other salary earners. Marian Lupu also said that the reduction in this percentage will be a first step towards unifying the pension system. “I think that these chnages should apply not only to the MPs, but also to the members of the Government so that we could increase collections,” Lupu said, adding that the accumulated money could be used by the new Government on social programs and to finance investment programs needed to overcome the economic crisis. The MPs’ gross salary is 9,000 lei. The retired MPs who receive pension as well as salary have a monthly income of about 12,000 lei.