Moldovans working in Italy to be able to ask for old age pensions, disability pensions, other social guarantees

Chisinau, 31 October /MOLDPRES/ - The Moldovans who work in Italy will be able to ask for old age pensions, disability pensions and other social guarantees. Labour and Social Protection Minister Alexei Buzu signed the Moldovan-Italian bilateral Agreement on social security with his Italian counterpart, Minister Marina Elvira Calderone, in Rome today.     

According to the Labour and Social Protection Ministry (MMPS), this major step reaffirms the friendship between Italy and Moldova, recognizes the contributions of the Moldovan community from Italy and improves the social protection of Moldova’s Diaspora.   

„I am honoured to sign today in Rome this bilateral agreement on social security. This is a historical agreement, which will consolidate the social protection of our citizens from Italy. I am grateful to our reliable partners and our good Italian friends for their crucial contribution to a better social security for our Diaspora,’’ Alexei Buzu said.    

The new social security agreement between Moldova and Italy provides the citizens with two basic benefits. It is about the combination of the periods of contribution for establishing the eligibility to pension. The periods of labour of   Moldovan citizens who worked in both countries will be cumulated for the qualifying for pension. This represents an essential change against the earlier rules, which demanded that the employees should meet the minimal periods of contribution separately in each country. Following the ratification of the new agreement, the Moldovan citizens with at least 15 years of overall contributions in both countries will be able to benefit from pension.

Another benefit would be the simplified process of asking for benefits, which will be less costly for the Moldovan citizens with right to Italian pensions, with residence in Moldova. They will no longer have to travel to Italy, in order to submit the application. The applications for pensions and other social benefits will be able to be submitted both in Italy and in Moldova.

Under the Agreement, the citizens will have right to the following types of social benefits: old age pension; disability pension; pension and allowance for labour accidents or professional diseases; survivor pensions.

In the last 20 years, Italy has ratified only another two such agreements. ‘’This decision shows Italy’s commitment to support Moldova’s integration into the European Union through the aligning of the social security systems and the improvement of the social protection of the Moldovan citizens,’’ MMPS noted.   

Moldova signed 16 bilateral agreements with European Union member states. Presently, the authorities negotiate similar agreements with Canada and France and hold discussions with Slovakia, Slovenia, Cyprus, Albania and Ukraine.