The recalculation of pensions was supposed to be a strong electoral argument, intensely supported by both ruling parties. Especially for the PSD, which has always held the Ministry of Labor portfolio, but also the Liberals clung to the topic of maximum interest as much as they could, not only for pensioners in receipt, but also for their families, as well as for those approaching retirement age.
And due to the electoral approach, pensioners’ expectations have been raised very high, absurdly high.
Most of them understood that the new decision would turn their modest abundance upside down on the tables. And they were encouraged non-stop to believe this. All sorts of percentage increases in pensions were put forward, on average, a very tricky word.
The average means that some will receive more, others less, and some nothing at all. You know how they say: if on average each of us ate half a chicken, it could also mean that I ate it all and you nothing. And as no other explanations were put forward, everyone was left to believe that they would be among those with the chicken in their bag. With this belief, many of them voted on June 9.
And the increase turned out just like the saying with the chicken. For some, indeed, the recalculation with the stability points almost doubled the pension, for others the increase is disappointing compared to expectations, while there were also some who experienced the shock of a reduced pension.
Yes, it is certain that no pension in payment is reduced, not only because the new law provides for this, but because this is a constitutional principle. From the moment the pension is established, the pensioner acquires a property right over it that cannot be affected.
But that does not mean that the sometimes substantial difference between the amount in payment and the one in the decision will not have effects. And most importantly, future pension adjustments will be based on the amount in the decision, not the one remaining in payment.
Furthermore, all those still in employment, from the same category as those with reduced pensions, will also receive smaller pensions than their colleagues who retired earlier. This mainly concerns those who worked in difficult conditions.
These things were not explained. The entire discussion about pensions was a long string of tearful slogans about seniors and grandparents, how much their lives will change. Slogans that are now fading away.
And this is just the beginning, because more revelations are to come. For example, anything exceeding 2,000 lei will be taxed, so the net increases will be smaller than those in the decision, which will be seen on the first payslip of the new pension. Plus who knows what other as yet unidentified pitfalls.
If they had not greedily seized upon the topic and inflated it for electoral gains, if they had kept expectations honestly in a reasonable zone, the pension recalibration would probably have been a real electoral plus. As it stands, there is a risk that the recalculation could turn into an electoral loss.
But what is truly bad is that it further undermines the citizen's trust in official discourse. And this significant lack of trust erodes democracy itself.