Retirees say they cannot afford a decent living with their current pensions and call on the Government and President to resign.
The National Federation of Pensioners’ Unions said it was expecting about 1,400 protesters.
“Millions of pensioners are barely surviving and with the approaching winter and higher utility bills, their living standard drops even more. They are mainly protesting the Government’s decision to freeze their pensions, for the third year in a row, at the level of October 2009,” said union leader Preda Nedelcu.
On November 10, some 200 pensioners protested outside the Government building demanding their pensions be raised in 2012 and calling for the elimination of a recently introduced 5.5% contribution to healthcare.
The Government is likely to approve the 2012 state budget on Friday and sent it to Parliament for adoption. The bill will not include any wage and pension raises, which authorities said they would operate in the second half of next year, if the state of the economy allows it.
Pensioners have also threatened to sue the Government if it freezes pensions in 2012, as current legislation sets pensions should be indexed to inflation and raised by half the increase of the gross medium wage next year.