Young people and active pensioners consider the retirement age should be increased on particular conditions. Among these are the exclusion of privileges enjoyed by government officials, judges, servicemen and some of the public servants on the calculation of pensions and the introduction of equity conditions applicable to everyone. The issue was discussed in the public debates “I’m a woman. When should I retire?” staged by the Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family in partnership with Help Age International on the occasion of the International Day of Older Persons, IPN reports.

According to a press release of the Ministry, though there were stated opinions for and against raising the retirement age for women, most of the participants in the discussion underlined the necessity of reorganizing the pension system.

The representatives of trade unions said the retirement age for women should not be increased as the women are in a precarious state of health despite the rise in life expectancy for them. Given the tightness of the state budget, this should be increased by combating illegal labor and illegal payment of salaries.

Some of the participants said the retirement age should be raised after taking particular measures such as consolidation of a common pension system, staging of re-qualification courses for pensioners, modification of the formula for calculating insurance for pensions during maternity leave, and elimination of age discrimination in employment.

In conclusion, Minister of Labor Mircea Buga said there is needed a broad consensus and a multidimensional and complex approach for identifying a formula acceptable to everyone, which would contain compensatory social measures and would build up a uniform pension system.