UPDATE President Iohannis: I have decided to promulgate social security budget law

President Klaus Iohannis announced on Monday he decided to promulgate the 2019 social security budget law. "Today is the last day for the promulgation of the the 2019 social security budget law.Although we do not know what the Government will do with the law on ceilings, a law declared unconstitutional - so poorly put together by PSD - and what Parliament will do with the national budget law, I have decided to promulgate the social security budget law. Pensioners do not have to suffer again because of the PSD [Social Democratic Party] incompetence and indifference," Iohannis said at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace. He explained had the social security law not been promulgated, the pensioners would have been directly affected. Iohannis resumed the request to the Government and Parliament to secure the amounts needed for the full payment of pensions in 2019. "Make sure that these expenses are fully funded in accordance with the law, that is, the amounts correctly calculated are fully budgeted for and approved by law for a period of one year, meaning throughout the entire year," Iohannis said. According to him, calculations indicate that about 1.4 billion lei are missing for full pension coverage in 2019. He drew the attention that the recent government practice of raising pensions in September only is "just another way of selling illusions to people." "Pension growth should have been and could have been occurred much earlier, according to the legal provisions on indexation for inflation and the real increase in the gross average wage in the previous year so that pensioners will not suffer because of the decrease in their purchasing power. The pensions could have increased much faster than PSD wants, that is from September 1; in other words, from a legal point of view and without any intervention from the PSD's pen, the pensioners would have had the right to increased pensions much more earlier, and children could have received their allowances increased on March 1, had PSD really wanted it," said Iohannis. He reiterated that the PSD governance has failed and that those who "will pay to cover up for the disaster are, unfortunately, the citizens". "Because of PSD, Romania's development has lately been a long way from the past years and the results are being seen. Failing to bring development through major investment in hospitals, motorways, schools at a time when the economy grows and opportunities are there is the culmination of failure. PSD has forgotten a basic principle of democracy: when you govern, you do it primarily for the country, not for yourselves. If it is not able to respect this principle, and it is indeed proving each day that it cannot, it should leave the government," Iohannis concluded. President Klaus Iohannis signed on Monday a decree for the promulgation of the 2019 social security budget law. AGERPRES (RO - author: Florentina Peia, editor: Karina Olteanu; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Rodica State)