Verdict on constitutionality of public sector salary and pension cuts postponed

Constitutional Court judges are set to deliver a ruling today on the five petitions regarding the austerity laws for which the Government pledged responsibility before Parliament. The Constitutional Court judges debated the petitions of PSD (Social Democratic Party) and PNL (National Liberal Party) and of the High Court of Cassation and Justice on the unconstitutionality of the measures to cut salaries and pensions all day yesterday, but eventually announced they would postpone their ruling. "It will be a long and hard debate," judge Zsoltan Valentin Puskas said at the opening of the session. The Opposition and the judges of the High Court petitioned the Constitutional Court on the austerity laws for which Emil Boc's Government pledged responsibility in Parliament last week. An unconstitutionality verdict, i.e. implicitly a "yes" answer to the petitions of the Opposition would mean freezing of the IMF agreement on which the financing of the country depends. If the austerity package passes, entailing a 25% and 15% cut of salaries and pensions, then approximately 10 billion RON will be saved by the end of the year.