Labor Minister Marius Budai clarifies that pension increases of less than 10% are not taken into account from next year, stressing that he cannot afford to start an auction in percentages on this issue.

When asked what he thinks about the statements of President Klaus Iohannis, who claims that “we have to come up with an increase that compensates well for inflation that exceeds 15%”, the Minister of Labor replies: “I will not allow myself to comment on the statements of Mr. President, so that it’s unpleasant, but I want to say that I’m glad that he thinks like PSD.”

“The most important thing to know is that pensions will increase from January 1. The Social Democratic Party proposed a minimum increase of 10%, taking into account the evolution of the figures, an increase that was put on the table of the dialogue of the coalition with all the figures. (…) We motivated and worked on this motivation for some time to make sure that we can give this increase, and we do not want to fall into a slope where we turn the best into the enemy of the good. At least 10%, I said. We also have the calculations, we also have the impact on the budget and where we get the money from, we have everything; we want to create a balanced support between supporting the business environment and, if we are talking about the Ministry of Labour, supporting them to protect jobs, in the first stage, because I am a supporter of the fact that the best social protection is the presence of a place of work, as well as the creation jobs,” said Marius Budaj in the Insider Politic program broadcast by Prima Tv on Saturday, news.ro writes.

He says he understands the plight of pensioners, knowing their wants and needs, but out of respect for pensioners he will not “allow himself to go into the interest auction”, stressing that he will discuss “any increase above 10%”. by no means lower than 10%”.

“We have to be extremely honest with the citizens, we have to tell them that, if we follow the inflation rate, as written in the law, we should focus on the inflation rate of 2021 and growth of 5.1-5.2%. We will not do that, we are aware, we are very well connected with reality, we are aware that we have to give more, and then we said a minimum of 10%. (…) We have made a reasoned proposal from the PSD, we are waiting for any reasoned proposal on the table of the coalition dialogue and we will make a decision as such. But I, Marius Budai, or any member of the PSD, or the president of the party, Marcel Čolaku, will start an interest auction, this is out of the question,” Budai added.

When asked if, according to his calculations, the budget would support a 15 percent increase in pensions, the labor minister confirmed that the PSD justified its proposal for a 10 percent increase with figures.

“If we have other numbers and our colleagues come with a reasoned proposal, PSD will never be against it,” the minister added.

Also, when asked what he thinks about the statements of President Klaus Iohannis, who believes that “we have to come up with an increase that compensates well for inflation that exceeds 15%”, the Minister of Labor answers that he will not censor what the Romanian citizen says , “regardless of whether he is the president of the state or not.”

“Now let’s censor what a Romanian citizen can say, regardless of whether he is the president of the country or not… He is a Romanian citizen and we all have the right to free expression. I will not allow myself to comment on the president’s statements, because it is unpleasant, but I will say that I am glad that he thinks like PSD,” said the Minister of Labor.