Liviu Dragnea, leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and president of the Chamber of Deputies, said yesterday that his party doesn’t support the removal of the minimum guaranteed income, but wants the people who are able to work and receive the money to work for it.

His statement came after several Romanian politicians talked about the removal of this type of welfare. Dragnea’s governing partner Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, the leader of ALDE, said last week that he wanted the removal of the minimum guaranteed income because this type of assistance encourages people not to work.

Dragnea added yesterday that he had agreed with the ALDE president to meet next week and discuss “a coherent communication package” on these issues.

The minimum guaranteed income (VMG) is granted to people with very low revenues in Romania. Some 240,000 people in Romania receive this type of assistance, which amounts to some EUR 31 per person every month.

editor@romania-insider.com