National leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) Marcel Ciolacu said on Monday that it would be „inhumane” for state pensions in Romania to increase by less than 10%, according to Agerpres.

„From my point of view and that of my colleagues, of those who have made and remade the budgetary impact, I think that there will be a greater economic growth, we are in line, it is inhumane to talk about a decision to have less than 10 % increase in pensions. (…) The law must be observed. The law says very clearly that it must be increased by the inflation index, but not of this year, the inflation index from 2 years ago, which was below 5%. But it cannot stay there. We are now talking about an increase and respect for the law. When you increase, you increase equally for the one on 1,500 lei and the one on 20,000 lei. (…) You have to create social equity. At that moment, you step in by category, exactly as we did in Support for Romania and in the first negotiated social package when we entered the government. It’s normal to have different approaches,” Ciolacu told Romania TV private broadcaster.

He added that the discussion about increasing personal incomes should not be limited only to pensions and that a whole package of measures with application from January 1, 2023 is needed, which should be discussed within the ruling coalition.

„In a way, there are several measures. A rough discussion, limited to how much the pensions increase, is not a correct discussion. We have to come up with a whole package and I want to discuss this package inside the coalition with the perspective of January 1. (…) The pensions will increase, it’s a decision already taken, both by me and by the prime minister,” added the PSD leader.

Agerpres