Miruţă: Increasing the retirement age in the Defense system, analyzed, but without decisions in an interim government

The increase in the retirement age in the defense system has been analyzed at the level of scenarios, but cannot be decided at present by the interim Government, declared the interim Minister of Defense, Radu Miruţă, in an intervention on TVR. The official specified that at this moment there is no finalized legislative amendment and gave assurances that the rules for calculating military pensions will not be changed.

• Scenarios analyzed, without political decisions

According to the minister, several options regarding the possible increase in the retirement age were discussed at the level of institutions in the defense and internal affairs fields, including within a working group established at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. "Some scenarios were analyzed, but the government now, being an interim government, can no longer make such a decision,” explained Miruţă. He emphasized that the discussions had as a starting point several general principles, without advancing towards a final legislative form.

• Military pensions: no changes in the calculation method

One of the main messages transmitted by the minister was that there is no intention to change the calculation method of military pensions. "The way in which the pension of military retirees is calculated is not changing,” specified Radu Miruţă, thus rejecting the fears that have arisen in the public space. The minister also stated that the scenarios discussed would not produce major changes in the case of the Ministry of National Defense, since, currently, the effective average retirement age is already above the minimum legal threshold, by approximately 4-5 years.

• Possible savings and corrections in the system

In the preliminary discussions, the idea was also advanced that any savings resulting from the increase in the retirement age be redirected to the defense system. These funds could be used, according to the minister, to correct some imbalances regarding military pensions, invoked in the context of the legislative amendments of 2017. Radu Miruţă's statements indicate that the reform of the defense pension system is still in a technical analysis stage, without any political decisions taken, given the limitations of an interim government and the sensitivity of the subject of military pensions.