The president of the USR, Katalin Drula, accuses the government coalition of “blocking” projects to cancel the special pensions of parliamentarians and mayors, given that the announced increases for the population do not cover inflation.

“It’s a big trouble, after months of fiddling with figures regarding pension increases, they finally announced a figure lower than the inflation rate. So, practically, pensions have decreased this year. And at the same time, tens of thousands of new special pensions are being prepared for payment by January 1. I have referring to the pensions of the mayors, which have already been postponed two or three times and are starting to take effect on January 1. The UDR has a project to finally cancel these pensions before it takes effect. It is blocked by this coalition in the Senate,” said Drula in a statement that took place in the Parliament Palace.

• Compromise in the coalition: Pensions will increase by 12.5% ​​/ Help for those with pensions up to 3,000 lei

According to him, if they come into force, the mayors’ special pensions will amount to one billion lei. He noted that the UDR project on the special pensions of parliamentarians was “blocked” at the assembled Permanent Bureau and added that it was “abuse”.

“The UDR project on canceling pensions for people’s deputies was not even sent to the committees. You know, it was done once before, it’s a technique. The DRC returned it because it was discussed very quickly. This time everything is resolved, only the coalition also wants to preserve pensions for parliamentarians . These pensions are 3,000, 6,000, 9,000 lei on top of the normal pension that a parliamentarian has, like any citizen. The same applies to mayors. They already have a pension, and on top of that, mayors, vice-mayors, all the clientele of PSD and PNL parties will receive another series of special pensions. These new special pensions are estimated to amount to one billion lei, money that could be given to Romanians,” Drula said.

According to Drula, Marcel Čolaku would not want the cancellation of the special pensions of parliamentarians, because he is “afraid” of his colleagues.

“However, there is a parliament here, it is a sovereign, higher legislative body. If Mr. Čolaku perceives him as a natural person, we can apply pressure, slap him in front of Romania for following the program of eliminating parliamentarians.” pensions are blocked. So, Mr. Cholaku wants pensions for parliamentarians. With incantations in front of the cameras, he says that he resigned the day before. Come on, Mr. Cholak, he’s going through parliament fast. We cooperate with all groups, if you want, and we will. He does not do this because he is afraid of the parliamentarians to whom he wants to assign these special pensions,” Drula said.

He also clarified that representatives of the UDR submitted written requests and even had informal discussions to support the introduction of the project on special pensions of parliamentarians to the agenda of the Chamber of Deputies.

“It’s a shame what Mr. Cholaku is doing, the fact that he is blocking the discussion on canceling pensions of parliamentarians. This is a combination of Buzeu. You know, we pretend to keep it in a box. This coalition is used to work like this. So do the mayors. They are playing with the extension: year after year. We are waiting for the right time to come into force. Here, the time seems to be In what normal world, when inflation is 15%, when energy carriers are becoming more expensive, when pensioners have actually had their pensions reduced, is it possible to pay out tens of thousands of new special pensions?” Drula asked.

Katelin Drula reiterated that the 9.4% of GDP cap for pensions in the PNRR would allow higher increases than announced.

“They continue to repeat this stupid lie with the PNRR limit. Even with the 12% increase, they are far below the GDP limit provided by the PNRR. They increased the pension point to 1,785 lei, they didn’t even keep their election promise of 1,875 lei, and according to our calculations, it can rise to 2,000 lei and remain within the limits provided for in the PNRR,” he said. (Source: Agerpres)