The demographic and economic developments show that the lowering of the retirement age is irrational, said Minister of Labor and Social Protection Marcel Spatari. According to the official, the executive hasn’t yet taken a decision as regards the repealing of the law to reduce the retirement age. Spatari noted the current government aims to enable those who can work to continue their activity, while those who retired should be already paid increased pensions, IPN reports.
The law to lower the retirement age that was adopted by the tacit coalition between the Party of Socialists and Șor Party last December provides that the retirement age as from January 1, 2022 will be 62 years for men and 57 years for women. If the law is not annulled until then, the state in 2022 could be unable to cope with the large number of pensioners.
“Tens of new pensioners will appear the same year. Furthermore, CNAS did calculations – this decision can be implemented at a cost of 1.5 billion lei a year. If we have 1.5 billion lei, how can this money be better allocated? Should we offer it to the new pensioners who are relatively young compared with the other pensioners from the system and who, to the greatest extent, are able to work and many of them continue to work after the retirement age, or should we offer this money to the pensioners who are already in the system?” Marcel Spatari stated in the talk show “Emphasis on Today” on TVR Moldova channel.
The minister said an eventual decision to challenge the law adopted by PSRM-Șor in 2020 in the Constitutional Court will be taken by the politicians, while the ministry will comply with any of the taken decisions. It’s definite yet that the lowering of the retirement age will not enable to establish a sustainable pension system with pensions that will ensure decent living for pensioners.
“The pension is calculated when the persons retires and those who retire earlier get a lower pension. We know concrete cases when persons intentionally do not retire for three-four years more so as to benefit from more favorable calculations. We haven’t yet taken a decision, but we realize that the lowering of the retirement age is illogical for a number of reasons. All the demographic and economic developments show the age should not be lowered. No country diminishes the retirement age. All the countries increase this age. We do not want to raise the retirement age, but want to have a sustainable system in the long run,” stated Marcel Spatari.
The Gavrilița Government decided to increase the minimum pension. This way, starting with October 1, 2021, 183,000 pensioners with complete insurance periods, who received a pension lower than 2,000 lei, will now get a minimum pension of 2,000 lei a month. At the same time, 125,000 persons with an incomplete insurance period will benefit from an average rise of 398 lei in pensions.
