Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and European Commission Executive Vice-President for Social Rights, Skills, Quality Jobs and Training Roxana Minzatu had a meeting on Monday at the Victoria Palace of Government, with talks focusing on attracting European funds to finance social projects for the benefit of Romanian citizens, as well as on protecting the rights and increasing the skills of Romanian workers.

„The considerable resources for co-financing European projects included in this year’s budget and the improvement of the ministries’ working mechanisms will ensure that European money supports essential investments to increase the Romanians’ living standards. The Cohesion Policy, the European Social Fund and other European policies remain priorities. We can thus support people, especially those who need it the most, as well as local communities by putting to good use European solidarity through development projects correlated with social measures,” Ciolacu said as cited in a government release.

The prime minister also emphasized the government’s backing for the Romanian automotive industry, which makes a significant contribution to the GDP, including by increasing the skills of the workers in this sector.

In this context, the EC’s Executive Vice-President Roxana Minzatu expressed openness to support the Romanian government in attracting as many European funds as possible.

Another topic of discussion was the European regulation aimed at protecting workers who moved for a job to another European Union member state.

„We are highly committed to the dialogue with European partners to protect the social rights of Romanians working in other European Union member states, whether we are talking about pension, child-rearing allowance or unemployment benefits,” said Prime Minister Ciolacu.

Also, the officials referred to the debate taking place across Europe on strengthening the EU’s emergency preparedness, with the head of the Executive mentioning that Romania must be a party to this debate, given the contribution the Romanian experts make to managing hazard situations, such as fires and floods, the release notes.

Attending the meeting at the Victoria Palace alongside Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu were Minister of Labor, Family, Youth and Social Solidarity Simona Bucura Oprescu, the head of the Prime Minister’s Chancellery Radu Oprea, state advisor with the Prime Minister’s Chancellery Ruxandra Ivan, and government spokesman Mihai Constantin.

AGERPRES