The National Federation of Pensioners of Romania (FNUPR) is organizing a rally of pensioners in front of the Government on Friday, March 25, requesting the Government to reduce the contributions to the privately managed pension funds (Pillar II), the president of the organization, Dumitru Cojanu, announced.

He expressed criticism in regard to a project promoted by former prime minister Florin Citu, leader of the junior ruling party PNL, for temporarily reducing by 5pp the social security contributions, local Agerpres reported.

The 9.4%-of-GDP cap on the public pensions budget agreed by the Government on long-term under the Relaunch and Resilience Facility is another topic criticized by the pensioners’ association.

The contribution to Pillar II is subtracted from the overall 25% social security contributions paid by the Romanian employees; therefore, the planned increase of the transfers to Pillar II from 3.75% to 4.75% as of January 2024 would result in fewer funds transferred to the public pension budget - with a negative impact on the pension paid on an on-going basis.

The Romanian Government set the higher contributions to Pillar II under the Relaunch and Resilience Facility. When designed, in 2008, the privately managed pensions were supposed to eventually receive 6% of the gross wages - but the increase of the share has been repeatedly delayed mainly on the grounds that it would put pressure on the public pension (and general Government) budget deficit. 

andrei@romania-insider.com

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