The Senate in Bucharest on Wednesday voted a draft law spearheaded by the
Social-Democratic Party in opposition, providing survivor’s benefits to the
children or spouses of medical professionals who die in the fight against the
coronavirus. The Social-Democrats want the survivors of medical staff who treat
the COVID-19 sick and who die from infections to get a benefit tantamount to
75% of the salary of the deceased. Social-Democrat Senator Florin Ortan:
The nation is
fighting a biological war against an unseen, deadly enemy. We are confident we
will win this war. We won’t win every fight, however. We have seen multiple
organizational and medical flaws in Suceava, Deva or Arad. Our hope is that
this initiative will have zero beneficiaries.
At the same
time, the leader of the group of Liberals in Parliament, Daniel Fenechiu, says
the Liberals are grateful to the medical staff who fight the coronavirus and
who deserve our full gratitude for their efforts.
Doctors deserve
all the credit for their efforts in the first line. No effort is too small to motivate
our doctors today and to show them society’s full support for what they do, for
their vocation, for their importance.
The Save Romania
Union does not see the measure as a privilege, but rather as a minimum right
medical professionals should have. In turn, the Democratic Union of Ethnic
Hungarians in Romania says the measure might alleviate the suffering of
families of the departed. A final vote on this matter will be cast in the
Chamber of Deputies. In another development, another measure to fight the
COVID-19 pandemic is to send some categories of public employees in technical
unemployment, on a rotation basis, for periods of 15 days. The measure
addresses everyone working in public institutions that are non-essential in the
fight against the pandemic. Prime Minister Ludovic Orban explains:
We’ve thought
of a mechanism that we might introduce as a rule, which might lower the risk of
the virus spreading. It’s rather simple: we divide employees in two groups,
each being able to perform their assigned duties. Half will be working 15 days,
with the other half getting technical unemployment benefits for 15 days. At the
end of 15 days the two groups will switch roles. The mechanism must ensure the
functionality of public institutions, in those areas that are not directly
affected by the measures we introduce.
The draft law on
technical unemployment in public institutions has also been announced by Labor
Minister Violeta Alexandru on a social networking site. The Labor Minister said
consultations will be held on this matter, including with local authorities,
and the Government will take full responsibility for this decision.
(Translated by V.Palcu)