The Romanian government has recently initiated
\na public debate on its proposed package of 47 measures to eradicate poverty.
\nChiefly aimed at Romania’s 1.7 million minors at risk of poverty, the package
\nalso targets other social categories as well, such as the elderly, in a move to
\npromote active aging. Prime minister Dacian Ciolos with details about the
\nanti-poverty programme: <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
We want to provide identification for all
\nnewborn children, apart from support for medical screening and vaccination.
\nSome children are born into families who do not have an established place of
\ndomicile so they cannot be provided with identity papers, thus being left out
\nof the support system. We need a solution for such cases. We also want to
\nreduce school dropout levels among school-age children. In the case of young
\npeople who have abandoned school early and have little chances of finding a
\njob, the Employment Agency should have a more proactive approach and develop
\nassistance programmes meant to identify these cases and help the young people
\nin question integrate into the labour market or continue their education
\nthrough a programme called A Second Chance in School. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
We often hear that Romania is one of
\nthe poorest countries in the European Union, but what exactly is the scale of
\npoverty in this country? Monitorul Social, a project developed by the Friedrich
\nEbert Romania Foundation, has been attempting to answer this question for a year.
\nIt has collected and analysed social and economic data from various national
\nand European institutions, seeking to present and explain the results to the
\npublic in a clear and accessible manner. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
After looking at all the figures, it
\nwas clear that some of them were misleading, says Victoria Stoiciu, a programme coordinator with the
\nFriedrich Ebert Foundation. She gave as an example the data indicating that
\nRomania has one of lowest unemployment rates in the European Union. The
\nofficial data regarding employment and unemployment rates and those concerning
\nself-employed people are, in fact, concealing a very tough reality. Victoria
\nStoiciu explains:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Employment is defined in the European Union in
\nrelation to people doing salaried or non-salaried work. The latter category
\nincludes, for example, all types of self-employed occupations. According to
\nthis definition, Romania has a decent employment rate at over 60%, which is
\nclose to the EU average, yet not exactly meeting the target stipulated in the
\nEuropean Union’s 2020 growth strategy. But if we look more closely at the
\nnumbers, we see Romania has some 4.5 million salaried workers and 3 million people performing non-salaried work. In the latter category, half
\nare self-employed people. The rest, who are classified as non-salaried family workers,
\nwork in their own households but do not have an income and do not get paid at
\nthe end of the month. They are in effect unemployed. In statistical terms,
\nhowever, they are considered employed. 90% of all self-employed people in
\nRomania work in agriculture, which is in fact a type of subsistence work. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Salaried
<\/p>\n
Victoria
<\/p>\n
It
<\/p>\n The new anti-poverty
The Romanian government has recently initiated a public debate on its proposed package of 47 measures to eradicate poverty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":67314,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42997],"tags":[29952],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-141813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society-today","tag-poverty"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nworkers are not doing much better, either, given that the gross minimum monthly
\nwage in Romania stands at 218 euros, the lowest in the European Union with the
\nexception of Bulgaria. At the end of 2015, the net average wage in Romania amounted to 473 euros. Furthermore, the so-called social transfers, namely
\nunemployment benefits, child allowances, pensions and welfare benefits, account
\nfor a maximum of 16% of the GDP. While the European Union average in this
\nrespect stands at more than 20%, Romania is again behind other member states,
\nwith the lowest social protection expenditure in the Union.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nStoiciu, a programme coordinator with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, shares her view on the
\ngovernment’s recent anti-poverty programme: <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nis a good package. There is nothing bad I can say about it. I should like to
\nmake two observations, however. An anti-poverty strategy for the 2015-2020
\nperiod was already adopted at the beginning of 2015, a strategy I considered
\nOK. So I don’t understand why the current government didn’t continue what was
\ndone in the past. The current government has not criticised the old strategy,
\nbut it has still preferred to come up with a new one, which is also a good
\nstrategy. Governments in Romania have this habit of erasing everything the
\nformer governments did before them, so there is no continuity in terms of
\npublic policies. Although there is nothing fundamentally wrong with
\nthe new anti-poverty programme, we have to go to the root of the problem to
\neradicate poverty. And the cause of the problem is the lack of jobs. <\/p>\n
\npackage also comprises examples of best practice, pilot programmes run by
\nnon-governmental organisations that have been included in the national
\nlegislation. One such project, developed by the OvidiuRo Association, aims to keep children from
\nunderprivileged families in primary school. Under the project, these families
\nreceive a voucher worth a little over 10 euros to help with the costs
\nassociated with keeping their children in primary school. The list of children
\neligible for this programme was submitted by the local authorities by February 10. In the
\nmeantime, the central authorities have begun to funnel the money to
\nthe local budgets. <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"