Romania's centrist coalition government has an alternative austerity package ready to discuss with the IMF, Prime Minister Emil Boc said on Friday after the country's top court ruled planned pension cuts were illegal, according to Reuters. Boc gave no further details about the new measures, but said they would lead to resuming its 20 billion euros aid package from the International Monetary Fund and keep this year's budget deficit within the agreed 6.8 percent of GDP target. Disbursement of about 2 billion euros in aid from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union depended on the court's approval of a government move to slash state wages by a quarter and cut pensions by 15 percent. Boc said the government plans to go ahead with the cuts in wages and a move to reduce high pensions, other than those of magistrates. The Constitutional Court had ruled the plan to cut magistrates' pensions was illegal.
