Romanian Lower Chamber Passes Pensions Bill

The bill was passed with 197 votes for and 70 abstentions, gaining the support of Hungarian minority party UDMR.

Romania’s Senate rejected the project last week, after it fell one vote short of obtaining the required majority in the chamber.

The law was initially adopted by the Romanian Government last October, and was later approved by the Parliament in December. However, it was partially declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court in March 2019, as judges considered the bill’s definition of a pensions system contributor too vague.

The bill includes a new calculation method for pensions, which the government says will ramp up the value of a pensions point from RON1,100 at the start of 2019 to RON1,875 in 2021.

The bill will be sent to President Klaus Iohannis for enactment, pending constitutional challenges.