Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu asked the new labour minister to suspend the heads of the County Agencies for Payments and Social Inspection in the counties where care homes were found operating with serious irregularities after investigation bodies opened 47 criminal files, government spokesperson Mihai Constantin said on Thursday.
The investigation bodies opened criminal files following the checks carried out in the social assistance centres for the elderly, children and persons with disabilities.
“Several measures were taken to suspend, withdraw the authorisation or effectively close these centres and there are already 47 criminal files opened by the investigative bodies in these cases”, he stated.
Some 2,724 centres out of 2,803 licensed centres were checked, and the controls are ongoing in Bucharest and Ilfov County.
The prime minister urged the new labour minister to suspend the heads of the County Agencies for Payments and Social Inspection in the seven counties and Bucharest.
He also demanded a change in the leadership of the social assistance departments in these counties and the suspension of the head of the Labour Inspection.
The situation is “intolerable” and “inadmissible”, Ciolacu said, adding that some centres have no authorisation, operating clandestinely, “all under the noses of Romanian officials”.
He also pointed out a “huge problem with black labour”.
In some centres, there were “working conditions of the Middle Ages”, a sign that the Labor Inspectorate did not do its job.
Ciolacu wants more resignations, but they would only solve “a part of the problem”. “The legislation regarding the accreditation, monitoring, licensing and control of these centres has to be amended”, he said, asking the labour minister to “quickly” come up with new legislative proposals.
The prime minister also said that EU funds could be allocated for such centres.
“There are €80 million available and, from my discussions with the European Commission, we can increase the amount up to 100 million,” he said.
(Cătălina Mihai, Sebastian Rotaru | EURACTIV.ro)
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