Deputy PM Tanczos: Reform of special pensions - probably in package three, retirement age increases

Deputy Prime Minister Tanczos Barna said on Tuesday that the reform of special state pensions will most likely be included in a third package of fiscal measures, adding that the retirement age will increase for those who draw them and the pension must not be higher than the salary.

"The order and manner in which this reform began was imposed by the European Commission. In the second package come the elements of local public administration, in the healthcare system and in the third package, at the latest, we will have to have the elements that refer to the retirement privileges, the privileges of duration of the activity during employment years, in several areas such as justice, the Interior Ministry, Police, Gendarmerie, Army, where the support services, who simply do the same thing as in a town hall, accounting, human resources, other activities that are not related to the interventions of the gendarme teams, the special forces, the army, the military, must approach the retirement conditions form the other areas, because otherwise, they will be considered and are considered privileges," Tanczos told RFI broadcaster.

Asked if the reform of special pensions will involve in particular increasing the retirement age, the deputy prime minister said: "Absolutely and as soon as possible, immediately, not in a horizon of 20 years or 15 years or I don't know how many years, which is not serious reform."

"I can agree with those who say that special pensions are needed because in Europe, in all civilised countries, where during employment there are a lot of restrictions, there you must also have a compensation for that. Those in the judiciary, those in the Public Prosecution Service have a lot of restrictions, they can't do anything else, they have to focus only on their activity. They have a very, very strict regulation in terms of conduct. (...) European commissioners also have special pensions and MEPs and those in the Brussels administration and those in the Judiciary, the police, the army from all other countries. They must be proportional, in direct relation to the degree of sustainability on the part of society."

Asked if the way in which the special state pensions are calculated will be rethought, Tanczos said: "Yes, yes, in the sense that the pension should not be higher than a salary, which is an aberration."

Asked if he expects massive protests, the deputy prime minister said that a compromise can be reached in this case as well.

He also said that these measures will most likely be included in a third package, given that there is no time to introduce them in the second package.