The magistrates’ pensions will remain at 70 percent of their salary, according to the discussions in the governing coalition, Chairman of the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) Kelemen Hunor said on Tuesday, adding that the transitional period up to the retirement age of 65 could be adjusted.

„We discussed in the coalition the options following last week’s meeting with the magistrates at Cotroceni. And everyone agrees that if further consultation is needed, it should happen today or tomorrow, but this week we must send the draft to the CSM [ the Superior Council of Magistracy] for approval and on the substance, everyone agrees not to change the amount, so 70 percent of the salary will be maintained, that is, the pension level. Regarding the transitional period, I would accept extending it from 10 to 15 years if my colleagues agree. Ultimately, if we are looking for a compromise, I believe that from our side, the coalition, and the Government, this is a way to show that, from our point of view, social peace and fair governance are the most important things. Today, the Prime Minister will probably discuss with the President to see if any developments have occurred since last week, but we are obliged to send the draft to the CSM for approval,” Kelemen Hunor said in an interview with RFI.

According to him, it is „important to reach the age of 65 with 35 years of work experience.”

„There have been long discussions about how heavily judges are burdened with cases, with extremely important matters, (…) but the key thing at this moment is to pass this draft law through Parliament and to the Constitutional Court. (…) It is unacceptable to see someone retired at 48,” Kelemen Hunor added.

The UDMR leader also said that a reform of military pensions will follow.

„In society, the expectation is for fairer governance. Others must follow as well. Here, the magistrates were right, because they reproached us for starting with them,” he said.

When asked who will follow, Kelemen Hunor replied: „The military area comes next, because there the retirement age is much lower and service pensions are much higher. Thus, we cannot avoid this, because if I want to be fair to magistrates, then I have to acknowledge that, of all special pensions, they account for 8.9 percent, including clerks, the Constitutional Court and the Court of Accounts, reaching just over nine percent, so under 10 percent. The vast majority, in terms of the volume of service pensions, not to use the term ‘special pensions’ are in the military area: gendarmerie, police, army, SRI [the Romanian Intelligence Service] and so on. A solution must be found there too, and here the magistrates are right that this area must also be addressed. This Government has the obligation to continue with these reforms,” the UDMR chairman underscored.

When asked when this would happen, he said that it had not yet been discussed within the coalition, however „it is in the government programme.” AGERPRES