VIDEO // Cultural voucher for young people to increase to 2,000 lei and be usable for sports

The cultural voucher for young people will be increased from 1,000 to 2,000 lei and will be usable for both culture and sports. MP Maxim Potîrniche is inviting young people, youth organizations, sports federations and clubs, representatives of the cultural sector and public authorities, as well as other interested parties, to public consultations on the new mechanism. The first round of discussions will take place on Monday, October 5, at Parliament.


“Our intention is to develop the program by offering young people more possibilities. The proposal is for the cultural voucher to increase from 1,000 lei to 2,000 lei and to be usable for both culture and sports. The principle is simple: young people choose, meaning you choose. We do not want to artificially divide the amount: 1,000 lei for culture and another 1,000 lei for sports. One young person may use all 2,000 lei for culture, while another may use it all for sports,” Maxim Potîrniche said today during a press conference.




For sports, the voucher will be usable for three main categories of expenses.


“The first is sports services: a subscription, an admission or participation fee, a training session, sports medicine services and other services directly related to practicing sports. The second category is sports equipment and goods. For example, running shoes, a martial arts kimono, a tennis racket or other equipment needed to practice a sports discipline. The third category is access to sports events and activities: from a ticket to a match involving the national teams to a training course or another eligible sports activity. We want more young people to exercise,” the MP added.


Young people, youth organizations, sports federations, clubs, sports schools, representatives of the cultural sector, public authorities, organizations working with people with disabilities, coaches, teachers, parents, merchants, producers, and providers of services or products are invited to the public consultations.


“We want to answer several questions that will define this voucher for young people. How can we make the voucher as easy to use as possible? Which services and products should be eligible? How can we avoid unnecessary procedures? How can we make it better suited to the needs of an 18-year-old? How can we ensure that it can also be used outside major cities? How can we ensure that young people with disabilities will actually be able to benefit from it? And how can we build the mechanism so that as large a share as possible of this money reaches local producers and service providers, sports clubs, cultural institutions and businesses that create jobs and make a genuine contribution to the economy of the Republic of Moldova? We do not want to come up with all the answers ourselves instead of those who will use this voucher. That is why I especially encourage young people to participate in the public consultations,” Maxim Potîrniche specified.


The first round of public consultations will take place on Monday, October 5, at 2:00 p.m., in the Europe Hall of Parliament.

Currently, young people who turn 18 receive a cultural voucher worth 1,000 lei, which can be used for cultural products and services. The program is growing, with the number of beneficiaries increasing from 3,521 in 2023 to 4,275 in 2024 and 9,554 in 2025. In total, over the three years, 17,350 young people benefited from the cultural voucher, according to the Ministry of Culture's report on the implementation of the National Cultural Voucher Program in 2025.