* Blănculescu: "We need bigger revenues which would support the pension system, regardless of the number of elderly"
Even though the issue of the aging of the population and of the strain it is putting on the state budget is no longer something new, the recent report of the European Commission (CE) concerning Romania's National Program for Reform has given specialists some food for thought. At the request of the BURSA newspaper, they told us that a reform of the pension system must be initiated, which would take into account the current structure of the population and build a system around it, so that regardless of how small the segment of young people (those below 40), they can support the public pension system.
According to the report of the European Commission, there are fewer active taxpayers than retirees, which, correlated with the aging of the population, has raised doubts over the outlook of the public pension system for the next 20-25 years, when the generation born in the 70s is expected to retire.
The issue of the aging of the population, must be looked at intensively, said Ionel Blănculescu, honorary advisor to prime minister Victor Ponta. In his opinion, the solution isn't to compare the structure of the population based on age levels, but rather to find solutions to increase revenues.
The advisor to the prime minister told us: "The pension system depends on the pace of the economy. It is one thing to focus on the extensive factor of the issue of aging and of the imminent issue of the pension system, and another thing to focus on the intensive factor. The extensive dimension, which concerns exclusively the number of retirees in relation to the number of active employees, belongs to some bureaucrats and public employees who only know bean-counting. This dimension concerns quantity, while the intensive one concerns quality. This is