Romanian government reaches deadlock in negotiations with magistrates on their pensions

The negotiations between the ruling coalition in Romania and the magistrates' organisations on the retirement terms of the judges and prosecutors reached a deadlock on November 13, amid maximal requests expressed by the magistrates that would result in their pensions remaining close to the pre-retirement wages and the retirement age rising slowly within 20 years from around 50 years now to the standard age of 65 years.

"We each expressed our positions, but we did not reach a solution that was acceptable to both sides, nor did we come close to a draft that seemed to lead to a compromise," prime minister Ilie Bolojan told Euronews Romania, as quoted by Economica.net.

Romania's ruling coalition insists on keeping the terms inked in the law already drafted: pensions no larger than 70% of the pre-retirement net wage and a 15-year transition period. Magistrates ask for 65% of the pre-retirement gross wage, which roughly equals the pre-retirement net wage, and a 20-year transition period.

The magistrates initially proposed that the pension be 75% of the last gross salary, which meant that the pension would remain higher than the net salary received. They said they were willing to lower it to 65%, in which case they would like the transition period for retirement at 65 to be 20 years, and not 10, as was the original draft.

"We believe at this point that this request is slightly exaggerated; we believe that the magistrates' pension should not exceed 70–75% of their last net income," said Csoma Botond, leader of the UDMR deputies.

Separately, the ruling coalition leaders tried to get the magistrates to promise that the Superior Council of Magistracy would issue an opinion on the compromise draft, if reached, soon, and that they would not refer the law to the Constitutional Court.

This is critical to legislating a compromise draft before November 28, so that Romania does not lose the EUR 230 million Resilience grants.

The magistrates did not give a categorical answer to the ruling coalition's request.

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