Romania’s corrections officers are protesting today from 11:00 a.m. before the European Commission Representation in Romania, dissatisfied with the terms and conditions imposed by the European Commission in relation to amending the Military Pensions Law, write Agerpres.

„The European Commission is blackmailing the Romanian Parliament into passing the Military Pensions Law as wanted by Brussels or else Romania will no longer receive approximately 1.4 billion euros. The government has sold Romanians’ defence, public order and security for 1.4 billion euros, money that will not go to hospitals, schools or highways, but to the pockets of political companies,” the National Administration of Penitentiaries Trade Unions Federation (FSANP) says in a press release.

They tell the European Commission that Romania is not the only EU or NATO state that has a different system for calculating military pensions. France, Germany, Poland, Belgium are countries where securing the income of reserve defence, public order and national security workers is based on a state pension system similar to the one in Romania.

„The European Commission is turning the police, military and corrections officers into the guinea pigs of Europe. After the experiment in Romania, will other NATO countries follow?”

They add that the politicians in the ruling coalition returned from Brussels with tough conditions regarding state military pensions.

„Despite the alarm signals raised by the police and penitentiary unions, the ‘orders in an envelope’ that the European Commission gave to Romania led to the depopulation and deprofessionalisation of the state’s law enforcement institutions. The ‘Brussels diktat’ – as Romanian politicians hint – regarding the amendment of the State Military Pensions Law raises questions about Romania’s independence in terms of domestic policy and national interest. The corrections officers understand the general interest of the European Union, but they ask themselves the legitimate question: Do we still need the 588 parliamentarians? Do we still need 20 ministers, a prime minister and two deputy prime ministers? The politicians have shown that they no longer need policemen, soldiers or corrections officers,” FSANP concludes.