Retirement age in the justice system will increase to 65 years old, announced Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan on Tuesday during a conference on the reform of special pensions.
Additionally, the length of service required for magistrates to retire will increase from 25 years to 35 years.
Bolojan specified that this means a magistrate who has been working in the Romanian judiciary system from the beginning could retire earlier if they wish, but not at 48 years old, rather at 58 years old.
Magistrates who retire early will lose 2% of their pension for each year.
Bolojan stated that this measure is necessary because one of the major issues in Romania is retiring too early.
”We are in a situation where two-thirds of magistrates in Romania retire at 47-48-49 years old, which is a very young age, an age of professional maturity in any field, and it is a quality issue, a sustainability problem in the coming years because we no longer have people to replace experienced individuals in our public systems who retire too early,” stated Bolojan.
Furthermore, the law introduces a reform in the pension calculation method so that pensions do not exceed the salary, being "aligned with the European model." Thus, the pension amount will be a maximum of 70% of the last net salary.
The Prime Minister stated that the average pension in the justice system reaches 5,000 euros net, much higher than the average pension in Romania, which ranges between 500 and 600 euros.
“We had years, before 2020, where practically due to the formula provided by law, namely that a magistrate's pension should be 80% of the gross income, emphasizing gross, in fact, 80% of the gross income means more than the net income.
So for years, pensions have been higher than salaries, which is totally abnormal,” Bolojan specified.
Another issue, according to Bolojan, is the unclear and interpretable salary law. And because of this, in recent years, there have been over 20,000 lawsuits initiated by magistrates for salary rights - higher salaries in some prosecutor's offices compared to others, bonuses, or compensations for inadequate working conditions.
He specified that the salary law will be modified, most likely in the autumn.
Spotmedia.ro presented, in LIVE TEXT format, the statements of Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan:
Magistrates' Retirement
- We urgently need to address the retirement situation of magistrates. We have withheld funds from the PNRR due to not meeting this milestone.
- In circumstances where these pensions are much higher than other pensions, social injustice arises.
- Solving this problem is related to improving the judiciary system in Romania. It is assumed that when a person reaches professional maturity age, after accumulating experience, they should be able to put that experience into public service. By clarifying the legal framework, we will certainly have a significantly improved quality of the judiciary service in Romania.
- What are the accumulated problems in all these years in the Judiciary sector: Retiring too early. From the cases we have had in recent years, we are in a situation where two-thirds of magistrates retire at 47, 48, 49 years old, which is a very young age. It is an age of professional maturity in any field. It is a quality and sustainability issue in the coming years. We no longer have people to replace, there are no longer people in the labor market. We have a labor force crisis. This proposal aims to increase the retirement age.
- A second issue - the pension amount is based on the last salary. For years, pensions have been higher than salaries, which is totally abnormal. Nowhere in European systems are pensions higher than salaries.
- A third issue, which is not addressed in this measure but will be done by autumn - we have salary laws that are interpretable, unclear. This situation has led us to have over 20,000 actions in recent years initiated by people in the judiciary system for salary rights, based on discrimination. There have been actions for bonuses, for harmful working conditions, or for administrative acts validated by court decisions.
- Following these cascade rulings, the Romanian governments had to pay approximately 10 billion lei in salary differences in this system. Partial installments were made. Last year's installment has not yet been paid.
- What we propose for the first two issues: We propose raising the retirement age to the standard age of 65. Compared to the 25 years of service, we propose increasing it to 35 years. This means that a magistrate who has been working in the system from the beginning can retire earlier if they wish. But not at 48 years old, rather at 58 years old. In these conditions, for each year they retire earlier, they lose 2% of their pension, so that, based on the contributory logic, throughout their entire career, this formula exists.
- Pension amount - We have analyzed systems in EU countries, and the retirement age is 65 years old in almost all EU countries. Regarding pensions, most countries have a percentage that refers to the salaries received in the last 4-5 years of activity.
- We have made a proposal that takes into account this basic contributory principle but also the formulas in Romanian legislation and decisions of the Constitutional Court: we propose that the pension amount be a maximum of 70% of the last net salary. An amount that is already superior to the situation in EU countries.
Investments
- Ensuring investment flows in Romania in the upcoming period is an important objective.
- These investments can contribute to the development of the defense industry. Part of it is ensured by the European loan under the SAFE program.
- We are working with all ministries on these projects to finalize the lists of projects that are supposed to be funded through PNRR or "SAFE" and to discuss with the European Commission to clarify the conditions under which we can access this funding.
- By the end of today, we will communicate to the European Commission the projects we have in the SAFE program.
- There will be proposals from the Ministry of Defense, but we also propose projects for civil-military infrastructure, with mixed operation, such as important transport corridors.
- Given the volume of works on highways, at least two projects are to be proposed in this project in this area.
Questions
Dragos Anastasiu's resignation was not published in the Official Gazette. Was it registered?
- The resignation was registered yesterday, went through the usual procedure, and today, just before coming to the press conference, I was given the document for signing, to be sent to the Presidential Administration for the completion of this procedure.
In the government, there are two individuals who have had legal issues: Marian Neacșu and Radu Oprea. Do you think they should also resign?
- I believe that in all positions, we need experienced individuals who can drive reforms, while respecting legal conditions. Any person who has had an incident, if rehabilitated, I believe can continue their activity.
What details can you provide about freezing transfers and secondments?
- We need to control our expenses. The effects of the ordinance issued at the end of last year were annulled by a package of 98 memoranda that created exceptions. What we need to do is cancel these exceptions that generate a lot of problems.
Do you know what verifications were made in Anastasiu's case regarding obtaining the ORNISS certificate?
- Without there being an imperative decision for all appointments in the government, we have requested additional data to ensure that there are no conflicts of interest.
Who will be in charge of the reform of state-owned companies?
- We need to appoint a responsible person. I will take on this responsibility until the situation is clarified.
Rise Project showed that a company owned by Dragoș Anastasiu founded a business with a company controlled by Nicu Gheară, a name associated with the underworld.
- I don't know if there is a connection between the activity of the SRI or other institutions and the knowledge gained over a 20-30-year career or the relationships one has. You can understand that you can have better or worse relationships. Now, when I go somewhere, there are always people who want to take pictures with me. At some point, those pictures may appear. I don't see any connection between the relationships one has over a lifetime and the activity one has. Those who benefit from activities involving classified information must go through this procedure, and I understand that this procedure has been followed.
Why didn't you request Dragoș Anastasiu's resignation immediately after the corruption scandal?
- I try not to make decisions hastily, from one hour to the next. And secondly, I have always tried to see what my team colleagues are doing, regardless of where they are from, what party they are from, to have the certainty that team members can rely on them, and when decisions are made, they are well thought out and in the team's interest.