Romanian mayor proposes assessement of couples who want to have children

Dorin Florea, the mayor of Târgu Mureş, a city in north-central Romania, has proposed that an investigation be carried out into the economic and social situation of the couples who want to have children. It would have to determine whether couples have jobs, a stable residence, “an acceptable financial situation,” “a minimum education level established by law”, and a minimum age, News.ro reported.

“In Romania, there are many underprivileged families - I am not talking about people with disabilities but about those who are able to work who do not want to work, to those who bring a child into the world with only one purpose: to have a revenue source. These conditions generate increased criminality, abandonment, lack of education, etc,” he said.

In a Facebook post, the mayor said “the lack of public debates and discussions organized in the right environment many times result in laws, Government decisions and legislation that is difficult to enforce and has strange outcomes.” One example is the legislation concerning the granting of the child-raising allowance.

“No one can oppose the desire to have a child but the population needs to be aware of the huge responsibility of raising and educating a child,” the mayor argued, saying he has been trying to draw attention to these things for more than six years.

He proposed a social investigation for couples who want to have a child, which would take into account whether they have a job and a stable residence, an acceptable financial situation, a minimum education level, and the minimum age to become a parent.

If a couple who does not meet the requirements still has a child, the state should take over the child's care in order to provide the right conditions, he said.

The mayor also argued that there was no need to “think about growing the country’s population at any cost.”

He also told Mediafaxthat a discussion needs to be had with all underprivileged categories about the importance of a child, about the workplace and school in order to make them understand that they should not have a child to receive a revenue. He mentioned cases of young Roma who give birth at 12, 13, 15 and asked "for an end to hypocrisy because the problem is a very complex one in Romania."