Today, I wish to thank the people who chose to put their lives in the service of the homeland, who chose the noble military profession and honored their pledges according to the military oath, by telling yourselves that the Romanian Government set right an act that hurt your dignity and the way it should have compensated you for your activity.

I say this not only in my position as minister of national defence, an office of honor, but a temporary one at that, but as a reservist and your comrade for the rest of my life.

As a first step, we succeeded to get a memorandum approved by the government in its session of 30 May, so that the pensions, that should have been cut as result of the provisions of OUG No. 1 of 2011, maintain their previous level. The people whose pensions were cut after recalculation, were supposed to lose what they had gained in 2011. This Memorandum will speed up the approval of the draft law that is now at Deputies` Chamber and would be discussed it in its first plenary session.

The draft law is meant to modify OUG No. 1 of 2011, so that retired people whose pensions were cut after recalculation, do not have to give back the difference of money. A second stage of the initiative aims at removing all differences caused by recalculation in the next fiscal year, so that all pensions reach the amount they had in 2010.

Eventually, this is an act of reparation to those whose pensions have been unjustly diminished, while those who have gained after recalculation can rest assured that it is a right they would not lose.

Your day, in fact our day, finds us, with God`s will, in optimistic circumstances, after a difficult period in the lives of the Romanian reservists. We should move on and give back the military corps their dignity. Though formally discharged, they hearts would always go to their comrades and would be always ready to join them, should the country need their services.

That is why, I consider it is not only my duty but my responsibility as well, to act with all my strength and means at my disposal, in order to repair ,in the near future, the unjustice, difficult to understand and impossible to accept, resulting from the recalculation of mlitary pensions.

At the same time, we will attempt to alter the law on military pensions, in the tradition of occupational pensions, we used to have in the Romanian Armed Forces. In this respect, we would open a serious dialogue with all reservists` associations, without discrimination, in the framework of a tripartite committee, along representatives of the Ministry of National Defence and the Parliament.
I am confident that your expertise would help finding the best way to reinstate this system, common in many of the allied armies, which you have unfairly lost. I do this in the name of our common goal of regaining respect for military men, regaining the role, importance and respect they used to have traditionally in society.

Last but not least, I wish to reassure you that I would act in such a manner that no one would ever again dare to hurt, for political reasons, the dignity of the military corps, by abusing of promotions or actions meant to politicize the military.

In finishing my speech, I wish to assure you of my esteem, friendship and respect. I would always be your reliable partner, sincerely concerned with finding solutions to all problems troubling you. After a lifetime in the service of the military, the military owe you that. I will watch over that this is a pledge that would be fully fulfilled.

Happy Many Returns of the Day!

MoND Press Office