The MPs of the Party “Dignity and Truth Platform” (PPPDA) formulated a legislative proposal to amend the law on the public pension system. The bill offers the Government the possibility of indexing persons even if the official inflation is under 2%, IPN reports.
In a news conference, the leader of the PPPDA Andrei Năstase said the legislation provides that the pensions are indexed two times a year – on April 1 and on October 1. The indexation coefficient applied on April 1 represents the inflation rate for the second half of the previous year, while on October 1 – the inflation rate for the first half of the given year. Consequently, if the legislation is not amended, given the official figures of the National Bureau of Statistics (according to which the deflation in the second quarter of 2020 was 0.68%), on April 1, 2021 the pensions will not be indexed.
“We ascertain that this rise in the prices of products needed by most of the pensioners is not covered by the average inflation coefficient that is calculated by impersonal statistical methods, by mathematical methods that are not at all correlated with the current realities that are harsh for the pensioners affected by the rise in prices,” stated Andrei Năstase.
He noted that to solve the problem of indexation of pensions, the state budget must be rectified before April 1, 2021. But such decisions can be taken only by an executive with full powers.
PPPDA MP Liviu Vovc said over 75% of the pensioners have pensions lower than 2,000 lei. The proposed initiative is aimed at adjusting the legislation so that if the inflation rate is lower than 2%, the Government could index the pensions based on the consumer prices of food products, medicines and public utilities.
PPPDA MP Alexandru Slusari noted that if these amendments are not made, the pensions of 475,000 persons will not be indexed. Such a situation was created artificially owing to the inflation calculation formula that is discriminatory and is detrimental to pensioners.
The MPs called on their mates from other parliamentary groups to support the given legislative initiative.
