Social inequalities in determining the full retirement age will be gradually removed so as to make the default retirement age equal for all the categories of employees by the year 2034, according to a legislative proposal approved by the Government, Info-Prim Neo reports. The proposal is intended to remove the exceptions to the Law on State Pensions which allow judges, prosecutors, public functionaries, military staff and other people employed in specific areas to retire earlier than at the default age of 57 years for women and 62 years for men. “Both men and women judges and prosecutors retire at 50 years of age, women public functionaries retire at 52 years and men at 57 years, military staff retire even earlier. But the European laws do not afford such exemptions in respect of the default retirement age. This issue has been long discussed in society, but now it's time we start removing these inequalities”, said Valentina Buliga, Minister of Labor and Social Protection. Under the legislative proposal, the retirement age of the aforenamed categories of employees will be increased gradually, by 6 month each year, so as to reach a common retirement age by 2034. Other provisions propose increases in the length of affiliation (stagiu de cotizare) and length of service (vechime in serviciu) established for pension purposes for certain categories of employees. Asked to comment on these proposals, economy expert Dr. Valentina Postolache said the failure by the previous government to promote reform in the social insurance system during 8 years has prompted the current government to undertake such reforms, which are as difficult as they are necessary. Another step which the Government should make towards removing pension-related inequalities, says Dr. Postolache, is to equalize the proportion of the monthly pension a retiree gets in relation to the earned salary. The current system favors the public functionaries, who receive a pension representing 75% of the monthly salary they earned in the final years in employment.