Sârbu: "We won"t go through a social apocalypse"

Cătălin Deacu

The Minister of the Ministry of Labor, Family and Social Security, on Friday made a reassuring statement while in Topliţa, county of Harghita, that Romania won"t be going through a "social apocalypse", emphasizing that the Government has sufficient resources to keep things under control.

Marian Sârbu stated: "As a Government official, the first thing I want to tell you is that we won"t go through a social apocalypse. The current government still has the political, economic and financial resources to solve and keep social issues in check".

According to Agerpres, the Minister also discussed the loan that Romania will take out from the IMF.

The Minister said that the IMF loan agreement will insure that lending will resume for those who invest in creating new jobs.

Marian Sârbu said: "I want to emphasize that if the economic circuit does not resume we will have an sizeable number of unemployed persons that will increase the number of people already unemployed. The resumption of lending in Romania is vital for economic stability and this is the main reason why this loan was taken out".

The Minister of Labor said that freezing pensions was never on the agenda and said that pension points will increase starting next month.

Sârbu said nothing of any possible layoffs in the public sector, but he did emphasize that the decisions taken following the agreement with the IMF will be bearable for workers in this sector.

On a different note, the Minister said he was extremely unhappy with the activity of the Labor Inspection Department, an institution which he said was going to undergo reform.

In Marian Sârbu"s opinion, the Department"s activity is now focused more on keeping records instead of control, a thing that must change, which is something that needs to change.