This document, signed in Rome on October 31, 2024, opens an important chapter in the protection of the rights of migrant workers by formally recognizing and taking into account, for the first time, periods of employment accumulated in the two countries. Years worked both at home and abroad will be added up when calculating pensionable service. This means that a citizen who has worked, for example, ten years in Moldova and eight years in Italy, will be able to claim a pension as if he or she had worked 18 years in one country, provided that the relevant social contributions are paid.
The agreement covers all types of insurance pensions: old-age, disability, survivors’ pensions, as well as payments for industrial accidents and occupational diseases. At the same time, the document does not cover the so-called social assistance (assegno sociale), which Italy pays to people over 67 years of age on condition of ten years of legal residence on its territory, regardless of labor history.
According to official data, by 2022 more than 271 thousand Moldovan citizens have contributed to the Italian social insurance system INPS. It is predicted that by 2034 about 25 thousand people will be able to receive pensions from Italy. To facilitate the application process and inform citizens, in September and October 2025, the Moldovan Embassy in Rome and the consulates in Milan and Padua will organize special public sessions with the participation of representatives of the National Social Insurance Fund (CNAS).
Such agreements on the coordination of pension rights are not unique. They have been successfully operating for many years in EU and non-EU countries. For example, Romania and Germany signed a similar agreement back in 2006, which allows Romanians who worked in Germany to summarize their pensionable service and receive payments from both countries. Poland has bilateral agreements with the U.S. and Canada covering periods of immigrant work and ensuring fair distribution of pension benefits. Israel has social protection agreements with more than 20 countries, including Ukraine and Moldova, which also enshrine the principle of cumulation of insurance periods.
For Moldova, from which hundreds of thousands of labor migrants have left over the past two decades, the signing of agreements of this type becomes a strategically important step in supporting the diaspora. This is not only a recognition of labor abroad, but also a guarantee of social security in old age. At a time when the national pension system is under strain due to demographic challenges, coordination with foreign systems makes it possible to redistribute responsibilities and ensure that citizens have a decent old age, regardless of where they have worked.
