President Nicusor Dan said on Wednesday evening that both pension indexation and the pay of public-sector employees were 'legitimate concerns for all political parties', but that a balance had to be struck with the overall state budget envelope for next year.

'Both pensions and public-sector pay are concerns, and I am telling you this because I have attended several discussions; they are legitimate concerns for all the parties. At the same time, however, there needs to be a balance with the overall budget envelope, and everyone is aware of this. So, once we have the draft budget, we will also see whether it is possible to increase pensions and public-sector salaries,' the head of state said at the end of his official visit to Prague, during a press conference for Romanian journalists.

He was asked what would happen with the budget revision in the absence of a fully empowered government and what the solution might be.

'Ideally, we should not be in this situation. A solution was found that took us from October 1 to November 1, following discussions with the Government, helped us go on from October 1 to November 1 through the Reserve Fund, with 10%, but this is not normal. We should have a fully empowered government as soon as possible to approve the budget revision and - very importantly, once again, in our relations with financial institutions - to draw up the draft budget, so that we have a budget by the end of the year and finally manage to benefit, in terms of interest rates, from the financial situation, which is much better than last year.

'So this is not a reason for panic in the very short term, but it is a matter of weeks before we have to resolve this issue,' the president stressed. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Andreea Rotaru; EN - writing by: Cristina Zaharia)

Display count: 89