Dragnea says payments to pillar II may be suspended or not for some time

National leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) Liviu Dragnea said on Monday that depending on the analysis of the financial data to be made to the Government related to the pension funds, it will be decided whether or not payments to pension pillar II should be suspended for a period.

"When that analysis is over, and if such decision is reached, which is an intent in the government programme, a period of option will be created for every citizen to pay into the pension pillar II, and a suspension [in payments into pension pillar II] will become clearer after the analysis and after a discussion with the private administrators of the public money from pillar II funds. To make sure that the millions of Romanians who are now contributing to pillar I and pillar II - and some only to the pillar I - maybe there are more people from pillar I who want to switch to pillar II, and then a bigger sum is needed. A decision will then be made whether or not to suspend the payments or to continue them as before and make further adjustments. It is just a matter of finance and accounting that will be decided with the administrators involved," Dragnea said at Parliament Palace in response to whether or not PSD and the PSD plus ALDE [Alliance of Liberals and Democrats] government is considering suspending paying contributions to pension pillar II for six months.

Dragnea added that this subject should be closed this year, and that all these measures are designed for Romanians "not to be fooled by a well-oiled manipulation campaign" and that they have the opportunity to knowingly choose one way or another.