PSD Minister of Investments and European Projects Adrian Cachiu on Thursday responded evasively when asked if there would be money to increase pensions next year, urging politicians to treat pensioners with respect. “Pensioners counted 35 years. No one asked them if they had the money to contribute. They paid their dues,” Cachiu said.

• “There were many discussions and last year there was a discussion when pensions were increased, whether there is money or not. However, it is about the rights of citizens. Pensioners counted 35 years. No one asked them if they had the money to contribute. They paid their dues. I appeal to all my fellow politicians – let’s treat pensioners with the respect due to a Romanian citizen, not abstractly,” Minister Adrian Caciu said on Thursday.

He recalled that last year he was also the Minister of Finance, but found the resources for the announced increases.

• “You see, I was the finance minister and I didn’t go out during the times when I had, and last year, certain emotions in the coalition, so to speak, at a series of debates, I found the financial resources to give the people what they really deserve “, – he said.

When asked if there is money for increasing pensions, he said: “The money will be in the law on the state budget, but there is money for predictive models,” Cachiu said.

Cholak, in the pension money scandal: ANAF has started collecting close to its intended target

Prime Minister Marcel Cholaku opened a cabinet meeting on Thursday, saying he had “good news”: “ANAF has started to do its work and collect close to its intended target. In October, revenue collection reached a record level of 40 billion lei,” he said in the context of the scandal over the money needed to raise pensions in 2024.

On Tuesday, the Senate voted in a marathon debate on the pension bill proposed by the government. After the PNL agreed with the PSD at a meeting in Villa Lac, the parliamentary debate continued apace, despite protests from the opposition USR and UDMR, who indicated that the law had no impact on the budget. It should be noted that Labor Minister Simona Bucura Oprescu and Finance Minister Marcel Bolosh were absent from the debate.

The draft goes to the Chamber of Deputies, which is the decision-making body

The executive branch on Thursday approved a draft law on the state pension system, according to which the pensions of more than 4.7 million beneficiaries will be transferred according to a new formula.

The Ministry of Finance, headed by Marcel Bolosh, warned in a favorable assessment of the pension law adopted by the government on Thursday that “the additional impact caused by the entry into force of the new pension law, the inclusion in the trajectory of the adjustment of the budget deficit is no longer possible, as additional measures are needed to increase revenues, respectively, increasing taxation of the business environment and the population”.

The Ministry of Finance forecasts a deficit of 6.1% for next year, if the new pension law comes into force.