The Statute Committee has changed the report on the law on the pensions of the members of Parliament and decided that those with a minim of one year served in Parliament, unlike 6 months as it initially stated, would collect special pensions and that the deputies and senators are entitled to such pensions when their term ends, if they are re-elected.
According to the additional report prepared by the committee in Tuesday, the deputies and senators who fulfil standard retirement conditions shall, upon the end of their term, be entitled to age limit pay, if they are not re-elected for a new term.
The deputies and senators benefit from age limit pay as of the date when they are granted age limit pension, but no earlier than the date when a current term ends.
For incomplete terms, the age limit pay is calculated against the effectively served period, but no less than a year of parliamentary activity.
During the exercise of a new term in office, the payment of the age limit pension is suspended and resumed when the term ends, the sum being recalculated including the period of the term/terms completed after suspension.
The deputies and senators who have been convicted, as deputies or senators, of a corruption offence stipulated by sections 289 to 291 of the Law on the Criminal Code.
The Statute Committee also introduced other criminal offences in the case of which convicted deputies and senators would not qualify for special retirement benefits – those stipulated by sections 254 to 257 – assault, violation of possession, criminal damage and unintentional damage.
The law on the MPs pensions is now being re-examined by the Chamber of Deputies, after President Iohannis has refused to promulgate it. The Statute Committee two weeks ago analysed the re-examination request, but declined most of the president’s recommendations.
The committee determined that the members of Parliament would cash the pensions when they receive a retirement decision in the public pensions system and the sum is the same as the initial one – 0.55% of the MP’s monthly pay, applicable to the deputies and senators with up to three consecutive terms served in Parliament. Against the president’s recommendations, the committee has decided that MPs who have been convicted of incompatibility would also benefit from the pensions.
The initial committee report was returned by Parliament on 9 September.
PSD interim President Liviu Dragnea said, at the time, that the matter of the law regulating the MPs pensions should be ‘weighed’ more carefully, as perhaps it would be best to rethink the entire pension system and added that the elected officials should think about all the retired people.
Mircea Toader: ‘PNL approved re-examination if pensions for MPs in committee, but we will vote against it in plenary session’
PNL MP Mircea Toader said, on Wednesday, that the Liberals had voted for the request for the re-examination of the draft law on the pensions of the members of Parliament in order to resolve the president’s objections, but the National Liberal Party (PNL) does not support the law as a whole and would vote against it in plenary session.
Mircea Toader who represents PNL on the Statute committee, explained that the re-examination request had been unanimously granted by the committee, although the Liberals opposed the law, as it was normal for PNL to address President Klaus Iohannis’ objections.
‘The committee addressed the president’s requests and most of them were adopted. From a political point of view, I, as the representative of PNL, could have not opposed a re-examination request and, in a way, it was absolutely normal to be against the re-examination report, therefore to reject the president’s re-examination request. In other words, to agree to the law in the old form’, Toader said.
The PNL deputy noted that it was ‘logical’ for the Liberals to address the request and resolve the president’s objections, but, in the plenary session, the law, as a whole, would receive a negative vote from PNL, as the party opposed the introduction of special pensions.
‘When the whole law is voted on in plenary session, we will vote against it’, Toader said.
The members of the Statute Committee adopted, Tuesday evening, the draft law modifying the Statute of the members of Parliament, introducing special pensions for the MPs, partially resolving the objections raised by President Klaus Iohannis in his re-examination request.
The law was re-discussed by the committee following President Klaus Iohannis’ re-examination request.
According to the report submitted by the Statute Committee, the members of Parliament note in the text of the draft that the senators and deputies will only benefit from the specials pension when their term ends and if they are not re-elected for a new term in Parliament. The note is made following President Klaus Iohannis’ objections, asking for clarifications on the time of the payment of such pension. If a member of Parliament entitled to the pension is re-elected, the payment is suspended until the end of the term.
Moreover, the MPs also changed the minimum duration of an incomplete term for senators and deputies to qualify for the pension. In the initial law, the duration was 6 months. In the new one, the duration was extended to a whole year. The first debates on the Statute Committee included the removal of the possibility for a MPs to receive the pension for an incomplete term, but it didn’t gather a consensus.
Not least, following President Klaus Iohannis’ objections, restrictions were introduced to the law for MPs convicted of corruption under the former Penal Code. The senators and deputies convicted of taking bribe, paying bribe and influence peddling will not cash the special retirement benefit.
The report was adopted in unanimity by the members of the Statute Committee and will be voted on in plenary session by the joint Chambers.
The meeting of the committee was not public. The final report on the draft law was posted directly to the website of the Chamber of Deputies.
