Romania's big problem: Not weighing whether it pays to benefit some and see the system collapse

A society which, during 40 years of communism, learnt to expect handouts from the state, is difficult to reform. But even so, Romania's big problem is that, apart from what can appear legitimate from those who have these expectations - pensioners with special pensions are such a category, which has come into the spotlight in the last few days - one does not really raise the point of whether it pays to offer state benefits to some at the price of collapsing the system or of compromising it in the long run, says professor Marian Preda, dean of the department of Sociology and Social Work in Bucharest.

After two years of economic decline, with the GDP plummeting 10%, professor Preda says this crisis also has a positive side: "The crisis brought up the principles of spending public money, and these discussions will not be forgotten very soon. If we had entered a new electoral cycle without restructuring the state apparatus, it would have no longer been achieved."
Marian Preda is coordinator of the report of the Presidential Commission for the Analysis of Social and Demographic Risks in Romania, published in 2009, a source of inspiration for the new pension law, which raises the retirement age and establishes the principle of pensions being calculated on a contribution basis for all categories of contributors.