Private pensions mandatory for under 35s

The number of participants in private pension funds will increase to about one third of the active population, according to a proposal to modify the law. This would extend the mandatory requirement of contributing to pension funds to people who are under 35 and already in employment, Employment Minister Gheorghe Barbu announced. “The legislation for private pension funds will be modified “by the summer” and will take market opinion into account,” the minister explained. “Most restrictions need to be removed, or else investors won”t come. Contributors will need to be protected, as well,” Barbu was quoted as saying by Mediafax. He explained that the legislative changes consisted of extending mandatory contribution to the under 35 in terms of universal pensions and not only those signing their first employment contract. This will mean almost one third of the active population will contribute to the fund, making it possible to apply the law sooner than scheduled, on January 1, 2007, instead of January 1, 2008. ZF