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December 21, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 6
Under the third law, the power of creditors is weakened as they have to ask for a court’s en- dorsement enforce their claims. Separately, claims including penalties and interest cannot exceed the principal of the debt at the time of the default by more than 50%.
Pensions overhaul
On top of this the Chamber of Deputies also passed a controversial pension law on December 19, with 193 votes for, one against and 14 absten- tions. The law is expected to cost 6.6% of GDP in 2022 when fully enforced.
The ruling coalition, made up of the PSD and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (Alde), which no longer holds a majority in the Chamber of
Deputies, received support from the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) after accepting some amendments.
The main opposition parties, namely the Na- tional Liberal Party (PNL) and Save Romania Union (USR) will challenge the law for breaching the Constitution, USR president Dan Barna an- nounced. Barna accused the PSD-ALDE coalition of selling false illusions to pensioners, but he did not specify exactly on what grounds the opposition will challenge the law.
One possibility is questioning the preliminary im- pact on the public budget, which any law must in- clude in the documents sent to lawmakers along with the text of the bill.