Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR) MEP Gheorghe Piperea cautions that Pillar II pension schemes are a ticking time bomb for the Romanians’ pensions, as the state is emptying their accounts „through massive loans and toxic investments.”

„Three years after 7.4 million Romanians lost RON 7 billion from their Pillar II pension savings due to exposure to government bonds, the situation is much more serious now, as over 8 million contributors risk even greater losses, as the state, on the verge of sovereign bankruptcy, is borrowing aggressively from these funds, with no audits or stress tests, and venturing into risky investments, including in financial institutions controlled by Russia,” the MEP and lawyer writes in a release.

He notes that the state continues to borrow massively from the Romanians’ money, while the country had its rating downgraded, and officials are publicly acknowledging that the state coffers are cash-strapped. „These statements are, in fact, admissions of sovereign bankruptcy,” the lawmaker underscores.

Against this backdrop, the government securities and bonds that make the bulk of Pillar II investments can quickly turn into junk, Gheorghe Piperea says, pointing out that „according to my knowledge, there is no audit, no official report, no serious analysis and no stress test for these funds. If in 2022 8% of the pension money was lost in just one semester (RON 7.5 billion out of RON 88 billion), what losses are to be expected in the ‘two years of austerity’ announced by Bolojan?”

He also takes issue with the government’s plans to limit private pension withdrawals to a 25% upfront, while the rest of 75% will be paid in installments over 60 or 120 months.

The MEP notes that as of 2022, about $320 million had been „invested” in Russian banks and lost as a result of the sanctions imposed on Moscow after the invasion of Ukraine, meaning that fund managers had been doing business with the Russians using Romanian money for years.

The situation turned for the worse, as in 2023 five Pillar II schemes had investments of approximately $350 million in bonds of the International Investment Bank (IIB) controlled by Russia – with repayments defaulted due to American sanctions; the cancellation of the presidential election in December 2024 sent the value of Pillar II assets plummeting by RON 2 billion in a single week – that is RON 250 lost per participant; in May-June 2025, Pillar II lost almost EUR 1 billion (RON 4.8 billion) in a week, that is roughly RON 580 lost per each participant.

All this happens as the funds invest mostly in government bonds of a state that grapples with an unprecedented budget crisis, the AUR MEP writes, concluding that „it is time for the authorities to stop the dangerous game with Romanians’ pension money” and demanding an independent audit, real stress tests and total transparency regarding the investment of these funds.

AGERPRES