New Labour Minister: Increase of minimum wage will come into force on January 1, there is money for pensions

Labour Minister Marius Budai has said Monday that the minimum wage level will be approved by the Government on Friday, most likely to come into force as of January 1.

“The minimum wage on economy, we will have a discussion today and, during the visit to Brussels where we take over the EU Council presidency and will be debated and approved on Friday in the Government sitting and then we will have the final form. I anticipate, it will come into force on January 1,” Minister Budai said.

Asked if the programme on salary increases stipulated in the wage law for next year is to be observed, the Labour Minister said that the Governing programme will be respected, ziare.com reports.

On another hand, the Labour Minister also said that there are no problems in ensuring the payment of pensions.

“I condemn those statements that there is no money for pensions. Such statements were made also during 2017, then during this year. When a parent, a grandfather, watches the TV and sees a state authority, a parliamentarian or a director or as a member of a political party leadership saying this, he considers him as an authority. At this point, he says ‘if the authority tells me I will not collect my pension…’ Then panic is created, an anxiety. That’s why I strongly condemn the statement, and that’s why I assume that as long as PSD is in power, there will never be pension cuts and they will be paid in time,” the Labour Minister said.

Budai described as “political hypocrisy” the reason why some politicians draw attention to the fact that there is a risk that the state will no longer be able to secure the payment of pensions in the public system.