Following months of delays which risked costing Romania 231 million euros of European Union funds, President Nicusor Dan wasted no time signing a bill to ax magistrates gold-plated pensions and right to retire at 48.
Signing the bill on Friday, Dan said the “recalibration of the calculation of these pensions is a gesture of equity, expected by our society”.
He added that in the future he would support measures judges needed to carry out their activity.
“People’s trust in the state is won when the reforms expected by society become reality. I assure the magistrates that their work is respected, and their importance in the architecture of the state is fully recognized,” he added.
The signing came a day after the Constitutional Court published motivation of the decision on magistrates’ pensions, where it rejected a complaint by the High Court and ruled that the Government’s law on pension reforms was constitutional.
The Constitutional Court’s reasoning has 38 pages.
For more than two months, the Constitutional Court delayed green lighting the reforms as magistrates fought to keep their privileges in the face of widespread public disapproval.
The repeated postponements were costly for Romania in budget terms and politically. It risked 231 million euros of EU money and the government has had to reapply for the funds.
In the law passed in early December, judges pensions were capped at 70% of the final net salary and retirement age was increased from 48 to 65 over 15 years, starting in 2026.
Four possible scenarios after Romania scraps special pensions for magistrates
