PNL's Roman says taxation of special state pensions must be done in Parliament to avoid being challenged

Taxing special state pensions must be done in Parliament, because an emergency ordinance issued by the government to regulate the matter is open to being challenged by the Ombudsman with the Constitutional Court, National Liberal Party (PNL) floor leader in the Chamber of Deputies Florin Roman said on Wednesday. Warned at a press conference that the government could issue an emergency ordinance on the taxation of special pensions, Roman said: "We have taken into account all the options. (...) Theoretically it is possible but, given the precedent that the Ombudsman is no longer the people's advocate but the defender of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), we expect any ordinance to be challenged by the Ombudsman with CCR, and that is why we have not used this tool yet.' He added that the PNL amendment on a 95% tax on of special state pensions "is currently stuck with the Finance and Budget Committee." "They simply do not want to vote on it. So Mr Ciolacu and PSD are lying. If we want to eliminate special pensions, they can only be eliminated as they were introduced, - by law in Parliament," Roman told journalists at Parliament House. He added that if all efforts fail in Parliament, PNL will use other tools. "We are also considering the option of engaging the responsibility of the government for an ordinance, after we have fully completed the parliamentary procedures. (...) If in a month they do not solve this problem, it means that they do not want to solve it, and then the government has two more tools to attack. (...) An emergency ordinance, from our point of view, will be challenged with CCR by the PSD servant, Mrs Renate Weber ," said Roman. AGERPRES (RO - author: Catalina Matei, editor: Mihai Simionescu; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)