Magistrates' special pensions went up in 2025 in value and number, despite the general capping

The official data of the National Public Pension House (CNPP) show that magistrates' pensions increased last year both in number and in value, despite the revenue freeze imposed by the Government.

Magistrates' pensions increased in value and number in 2025. File photo

Fearing that the law on special pensions will be changed, more and more prosecutors and judges submitted their retirement files in 2025, the number of pensioners beneficiaries of Law 303/2022 – on the status of prosecutors and judges, reaching 5,789 people in December 2025, compared to 5,622 people in January last year, an increase of 167 new pensioners.

Regarding the average pension, the CNPP data analyzed by “truth” shows an increase from 25,185 lei as it was in January 2025, to 25,443 lei, i.e. 258 lei, on average.

From the information “truth”, these increases in value are given by the higher amount of salaries that the former magistrates had at the time of retirement, but also by the huge amount of sums paid into their accounts from the state budget, i.e. from the fees and taxes paid by all Romanians, whether they are individuals or companies.

And these amounts paid from the state budget are not at all negligible, given that the average paid to the account of such a pensioner in December was 22,294 lei, compared to 21,933 lei in January 2025.

Without this money paid by the state, the value of the average pension of a former magistrate, based only on the contributions paid into the account of the public pension system, would have been only 7,113 lei in December 2025.

Current Retirement Conditions of Magistrates

Law no. 303/2022 regarding the status of judges and prosecutors provides for the following rights that they enjoy:

– Service pension – in the amount of 80% of the calculation base represented by the monthly gross employment allowance and the increments had in the last month of activity before the retirement date;

– Disability pension – in the amount of 80% of the service pension (64% of the calculation basis);

– Survivor's pension – under the conditions provided by the legislation on the public pension system, calculated from the service pension in payment or to which the supporter would have been entitled on the date of death, updated, as the case may be.

Categories of beneficiaries:

– judge, prosecutor, judge from the Constitutional Court, assistant magistrate from the High Court of Cassation and Justice and from the Constitutional Court and legal specialist personnel assimilated to judges and prosecutors.

Conditions for granting the service pension:

a) – the quality listed in categories of beneficiaries;

– experience of at least 25 years in the following positions:

judge, prosecutor, judge from the Constitutional Court, assistant magistrate at the High Court of Cassation and Justice and at the Constitutional Court, legal specialist staff assimilated to judges and prosecutors, financial judge, financial prosecutor or accountants adviser from the jurisdictional section of the Court of Accounts, lawyer, legal specialist staff in former state arbitrations, clerk with higher legal education, legal adviser or jurisconsult,

b) – the quality listed by category of beneficiaries:

– age 60;

– experience of at least 20 years only in the following positions:

judge, prosecutor, judge from the Constitutional Court, assistant magistrate from the High Court of Cassation and Justice and from the Constitutional Court and legal specialist personnel assimilated to judges and prosecutors;

c) – on the date of submitting the retirement application, they have another occupation;

– have reached the age of 60;

– have a seniority of at least 25 years only in the positions of: judge, prosecutor, Constitutional Court judge, assistant magistrate from the High Court of Cassation and Justice and from the Constitutional Court and legal specialist personnel assimilated to judges and prosecutors.

The CCR postponed, for the fourth time, the decision regarding the magistrates' pensions

On 16 January 2026, the Constitutional Court again postponed a decision on the Magistrates' Special Pensions Law, setting a new deadline in almost a month.

The CCR judges decided to postpone the ruling on special pensions, 30 minutes after the start of the session. The next deadline was set for February 11.

“Having regard to the request to interrupt the deliberations for a better study of the issues that form the subject of the case, as well as the documents submitted by the author of the referral on January 15, 2026 (extrajudicial accounting expertise pro causa) and some incidental legal provisions (art. 211 para. (6) of Law no. 303/2022), based on the provisions of art. 57 and art. 58 para. (3) of the Law no. 47/1992, the Constitutional Court decided to postpone the ruling on the objection of unconstitutionality of the Law for the amendment and completion of some normative acts in the field of service pensions until February 11, 2026”is the decision of the CCR.

Initially, the CCR was supposed to rule on this case on December 10, but the ruling was postponed to December 28. On that day, as well as on the one that followed, the CCR could not rule due to lack of quorum, after the four judges proposed by the PSD (Mihai Busuioc, Gheorghe Stan, Bogdan Licu and Cristian Deliorga) left the courtroom. Therefore, the management of the Court set the date of January 16, in an attempt to adopt a decision.

Magistrates would retire at 65 from 2042

The reform project currently on the table of the Constitutional Court aims to change the pension calculation formula, which would be set at 55% of the average gross allowances made in the last five years of activity, with a ceiling of no more than 70% of the last net allowance. At the same time, the document proposes increasing the minimum retirement age from 25 to 35 years, as well as raising the retirement age to 65.

The new rules would be introduced gradually. The project provides for a transition period of 15 years, which would start on January 1, 2026, during which the retirement age would gradually increase by one year. According to this proposal, in 2042 magistrates would be able to retire at the age of 65.