A society which, during 40 years of communism, learnt to expecthandouts from the state, is difficult to reform. But even so,Romania's big problem is that, apart from what can appearlegitimate from those who have these expectations - pensioners withspecial pensions are such a category, which has come into thespotlight in the last few days - one does not really raise thepoint of whether it pays to offer state benefits to some at theprice of collapsing the system or of compromising it in the longrun, says professor Marian Preda, dean of the department ofSociology and Social Work in Bucharest.
After two years of economic decline, with the GDP plummeting10%, professor Preda says this crisis also has a positive side:"The crisis brought up the principles of spending public money, andthese discussions will not be forgotten very soon. If we hadentered a new electoral cycle without restructuring the stateapparatus, it would have no longer been achieved."
Marian Preda is coordinator of the report of the PresidentialCommission for the Analysis of Social and Demographic Risks inRomania, published in 2009, a source of inspiration for the newpension law, which raises the retirement age and establishes theprinciple of pensions being calculated on a contribution basis forall categories of contributors.
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