Who will replace Romanians working abroad?

According to statistics, some two million Romanians, almost one tenth of the country’s population, are currently working abroad, and this figure is still on the increase. Who, under these circumstances, will stay to work in Romania? “There is an increasing number of firms soliciting work permits for workers from Moldova, Ukraine or Belarus,” explained Doru Frunzulica, head of the Department for Working Abroad within the Labour, Social Solidarity and Family Ministry. He said that, for the time being, the Romanian Government has taken protective measures by capping the number of work permits, but this tendency poses no threat in the medium term either. “The ten states that recently joined the EU were also worried about a possible mass invasion of workers from Central and Eastern European states, but in the end this never happened,” added Frunzulica. He estimated the two million Romanians working abroad officially send home something between 2 and 2.5 billion euros per year. ZF