Supreme Court notifies the Constitutional Court over the special pensions law

The High Court of Cassation and Justice, also known as the Romanian Supreme Court, has decided on Thursday to challenge the laws regarding special pensions to the Constitutional Court.

The High Court of Cassation and Justice will notify the Constitutional Court in relation to the Law for the amendment and completion of some normative acts in the field of service pensions, but also regarding the normative act regarding the increase of the retirement age, judiciary sources told mass media.

The Senate and the Chamber of Deputies adopted on Wednesday the draft law on special pensions.

The Superior Council of Magistracy accused the Parliament of ignoring constitutional principles when amending the law on special pensions, which can generate “obvious negative consequences at the level of the entire justice system”. The representatives of the magistrates show that the form of the law that was voted on is different from the form that was initially sent to them for approval and for which they had given positive approval.

On Monday, the Chamber of Deputies adopted the bill on special pensions, but it was sent back in the Senate on the grounds that several approved amendments “generated major differences in legal content” compared to the form previously adopted by the Upper Chamber. The Senate approved these amendments on Wednesday, and the project was adopted the same day by the Chamber of Deputies.

The normative act aims at the calculation of service pensions starting from seniority in the specialty, the reduction of the calculation percentage related to the earned income and the alignment of the minimum contribution period with that applied in the public pension system.

The law refers to the special pensions of magistrates, soldiers, diplomats, parliamentary officials, the staff of the Court of Accounts, aeronautics. The bill does not provide for the abolition of these pensions, but the gradual, staggered transition to contributory pensions until 2043.

Among the adopted amendments, prosecutors and judges will be able to retire until 2028 under the same conditions as before, that is, regardless of age, if they have 25 years of service, and benefiting from a pension in the amount of 80% of the gross allowance and the increments from the last month of activity. Military retirees will benefit from the same retirement conditions provided by the laws in force, in the next five years. At the same time, pensions higher than 4,000 lei net will be taxed at 15%.