Romania has efficiently managed the processing of requests for furlough and payments, compared to other European Union member states, said on Thursday, the Minister of Labor and Social Protection, Violeta Alexandru.
"In essence, by comparison with other EU member states in connection with which I have familiarized myself, in the context of wider consultations I have had recently with my counterparts, with the Ministers of Labor, I find that Romania has effectively managed the processing of requests for furlough and payments. There are also malfunctions here and there, but for a public system such as the system of the National Agency for Employment and for ANEPIS [ed.n. - National Agency for Payments and Social Inspection], under the exceptional measure taken, my opinion is that we have done relatively well and that the results have been seen in the actual making of payments. We are in the process of preparing the payments for May. At the beginning of June [applications] can be submitted for May and everyone is in position, ready to make the payments," said Violeta Alexandru, during the video-conference "VorbIMM: restarting and making the workforce more flexible".
The Minister of Labor also said that a series of recommendations were made on how the work should be resumed to protect the health of employees and, of course, of the employer.
"All these discussions, measures and decisions taken by primary or secondary legislation indicate the Government's concern to support sectors of the economy to resume their activity. However, some, for obvious reasons, those sectors in which the activity involves the participation of a large number of people will remain for another period the subject of decisions to maintain the current stage of closure of the activity, but they will be very few, so I will refer more to the active ones in my intervention, but I specify that the measure of furlough will remain in force (...) Those activities that remain closed whether they are core ones, or related ones, whether they are part of a chain, any company that has the activity closed as a result of the decisions of the authorities can further benefit from furlough as long the decision to close the activity is maintained," the Minister of Labor also said.
She emphasized that all those entities which, based on the decision of the authorities, cannot resume their activity, will be further supported throughout the period in which this decision of suspension, closure of the activity is requested by the authorities.