“Reducing expenses is not done through layoffs,” said Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, announcing that the Government is considering increasing the retirement age for soldiers and police.
Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan declared on Tuesday evening, January 13, that one of the solutions for reducing expenses in the state’s force structures – the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of National Defense, the Romanian Intelligence Service and the Protection and Guard Service – is to increase the retirement age, not redundancies.
“This is a reality that also concerns these categories. You don’t control expenses by cutting staff, because there is a shortage of staff. You do it by increasing the retirement age, following some common sense rules.” said Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, on TVR info.
Ilie Bolojan emphasized that for those who currently meet the retirement conditions, transitional measures, similar to those proposed for magistrates, would be applied. “Those who can retire can keep their current rights no matter how long they work“, he explained.
The Prime Minister has warned that the Government does not want a wave of early retirements in the public order and defense systems. “It doesn’t help them or us at all.” said Bolojan, specifying că “correct and honest solutions must be found” pbetween adjusting the retirement age.
The Head of the Executive spoke about the need to differentiate according to the type of activity carried out.
“It’s one thing to be on guard at an institution headquarters from morning to night without having any problems, without making any effort, and you can do that without any problems until the age of 65. And it’s another to be in front of the Government or at a match or in a tense situation where you have to have physical force, where you have the equipment on you and then, in the case of a gendarme, those who are in mobile brigades, a formula must be found for them faster retirement”, explained the prime minister.
The Minister of Defense, Radu Miruță, announced on Tuesday that the Government is working on a draft law to increase the retirement age in the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of the Interior and in the SRI and SPP structures.
“We are working on a draft law, together with the Ministry of the Interior, to increase the retirement age. This is the compromise accepted by the coalition so as not to cut the salary, not to cut the number of employees. But we must also contribute to the effort, by increasing the retirement age. It also applies to the SRI and SPP structures”said Radu Miruta.
The Minister of Defense could not specify to what level the retirement age will increase, which is now around 48, but only that Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan asked to have the draft law ready by the end of next week.
