Romania's government of very rich people think this poor chap needs his income cut. He will just have to work harder, we suppose.
For many of Romania’s most desperate group of people – pensioners – the vote is one of the utmost importance. If the government survives, pensions will be cut more or less immediately by 15 per cent.
When your monthly pension is less than €100 and you already struggle to survive, a cut like that will have a serious impact.
Supporters of Romania’s government (incredibly, there are some) argue that there is no alternative. This is rubbish. Enough cuts could be made in any number of departmental budgets (the military would be top of our list) to ensure the pensions of those who have already retired be ring-fenced. (Pensions under a certain amount, that is: slashing the pensions of those few who get thousands of euros a month is the right and proper thing to do).
Money could also be raised by a wealth tax on second homes and a sale of Elena Udrea’s handbags, by raising VAT to 40 per cent for genuinely luxurious items (cars of a certain size/motor capacity, expensive clothes etc.); it is time for those few who have bled Romania dry for the past 20 years to start paying the rest of the country back.
Certainly, Romania’s pension system needs full-scale structural reform. (The pensionable age needs to be raised: no arguments there). But this is not the way to go about it. Cutting the pensions of those who have already retired and who cannot return to work is evil.
That’s why so many government MPs are jumping ship. This is no time for cheap party political games. TV personality Teo Trandafir, elected on a PDL ticket in a recent by-election, has already said she will back the opposition: she supports the cut in public sector salaries but draws the line at cutting pensions. She is not alone, but the motion looks not to have yet picked up enough rebel PDL votes.
But we can hope. We can hope that the government falls and that forming a new one proves impossible, forcing a general election. That is what Romania needs: a new parliament whose parties have a clear mandate to make cuts anywhere and everywhere.
Except the pensions and the salaries of key workers (teachers, nurses, doctors etc.)
(Read more on the Romanian government’s lack of moral basis or political mandate to cut costs here).
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Well, the evil has won!
… unfortunately I don’t think is that simple, good vs evil… c’mon! The other guys are as evil, stupid and self interested as these ones. What pisses me off (more then other things) is the way parliamentary politics work in Romania. I mean, parliament is supposed to come with the decisions because in parliament you have the representatives of the people and only in parliament you can draft a decision that is acceptable (supposedly) for the majority of the people. But in Romania, 10 or so guys at the head of a party (which maybe are not even members of the parliament so they don’t actually represent “the people”) take a decision that the members of the parliament can either accept or be excluded for the party. I mean, where is the political dialog? Where is the stage in which you find a compromise acceptable at least for your electorate if not for the country? How come a few guys that represent (maybe) 100000 electors can force the representatives of 1.500.000 people to accept their decision? What is the purpose of the parliament then?… anyway, I find it terribly disappointing that after so much time we still do politics as in the time of the Central Comity and the unanimity votes. Fucking communists!… they fucked us big time.
No, no. You can no longer go on blaming ‘communists’ for everything that is wrong about Romania today. More than 20 years have passed. Time to move on.
I can blame the communists as long as the majority of voters are ex-communists. You can’t “change the political class” before changing the electorate’s composition and at this time the voters are still the result of 45 years of communism and ceausism. 20 years is huge for me and you but for the mentality of a nation doesn’t seem that much.
But maybe this “political process” in which a charismatic Caesar comes to a few chosen ones with a strong and bold decision that promises a lot of pain to the mases but for a greater good is engraved in Romanian spirit since before communism. Before communism it was Antonescu, before him was Carol2 before him was a strong king cycling through the two main parties not based on popular choice but on the “Algorithm”…
.. there is a lot of material for historic fatalism. I don’t believe in it but still I believe in political forces, and it seems to me that those are still very red and undemocratic. And the political forces reflect the social forces and their mentality, which are very much influenced by recent history: pseudo communism under Iliescu and “patriarhal stalinism” under Ceausescu…
Things change, but too slow… especially if 20 years ago you where dreaming to live in a “Romanian germany” as I did.
One member of the Parliament announced that he already prepared an amendment to the law that will cut the pensions and see if this will be approved: the pension will be reduced with 15% but not the ones that are under 1,000 RON (approx. 225 euro).
The pension fund is in deficit as a result of repeated uncorrelated increasings from 2006-2008. Also the number of pensioners with a non-completed stage affect the pension fund.
If we discuss about other taxes, you may discover that in the next day all the sources that you estimated to be supplementary taxed are disappearing… This is Romania…
I think that black market must be attacked, but for this you need time, strong and well prepared employees and a justice that is operational and not serving the political interests.
Bloody UDMR/RMDSZ. Useless craven desperate tossers
Here’s hoping that Romania’s corrupt elite who continue to bleed the country dry end up keeping Romania’s countryside in a state of almost medieval isolation. Romania is UNIQUE!!!!! I love the place! The fitze around Herastrau tonight at Quattro Stagioni were a sight to behold. The women all seemed to be 180 cm and models. The cars were Porsche Turbos, Audis RS4s and top of the range Mercedes. Where else can you get such extremes?! In 2010 for the countryside to be the way it is is amazing simply put! You have to be doing something rather oddball to have an entire countryside living as if it was the 1800s! Somedays this place seems too good to be true! Who the heck is behind the whole spectacle that is Romania?! I mean someone must be masterminding it all for my benefit.
Dear Sir,
The number of the population in the rural area is decreasing and this is normal trend all over the world. Maybe it is a nostalgia to see nice places in rural area, but the future belong to the cities.
More and more people are looking for comfort, and for more civilized way of living.
In rural area Romania still have approx. 30% of the total population, but the real percent is lower than this. What is this percent in UK, Germany, Spain or Israel? This is the reality based on figures. From rural area people are mainly leaving to Spain, Italy. All people are looking for a better life, and more money, that is normal. Money are not in the rural area and the better life is not in Romania, it is outside of it.
In 20 years the number of people living in the rural area is half reduced, and I expect for the next 20 year that this number will continuously decline at less than 18% from the total population. I am used to make predictions (pessimist or/and optimist).