The Minister of Labour, Social Solidarity and Family, Mrs. Elena Dumitru, attended a conference on “Private Pensions in Romania” held by the “Financial Market” magazine on Monday, February 2, 2004 in Bucharest. The three discussion panels of the conference addressed the topic of introducing privately managed pension funds (pensions with defined contributions, financed by a portion of the payroll tax, and occupational pensions).

Mrs. Dumitru presented the governmental policy on the pension reform: “We very carefully looked at similar experiences from other countries, where either occupational pensions or privately managed pension funds with defined contributions were implemented”.

“In Europe, public pension systems have undeniably had a high rate of satisfaction, at a time of economic and social development, and a public confidence in large-scale organizational structures. It is erroneous that the pension reform be viewed as the necessary answer given to current challenges : demographic trends or constraints of the global economy. I believe the pension reform in Romania is an active answer to the manifested individual need for independence, for autonomy”, Mrs. Dumitru argued.