High-Level dialogue between Moldova, EU on social protection and education launched in Chisinau

The high-level dialogue between Moldova and the European Union in the fields of labor, skills, education, social protection and child welfare today was launched in Chisinau.  European Commission's Executive Vice-President for Social Rights and Skills, Quality Jobs, and Training Roxana Minzatu, Minister of Labor and Social Protection Alexei Buzu, and Minister of Education and Research, Dan Perciun have made statements to this effect.





Minister of Labor and Social Protection Alexei Buzu said that the Moldovan authorities wanted an accelerated integration and broader participation in all EU programmes and initiatives in the fields of social protection and education.

"Certainly, this will help us speed up the reforms and increase necessary investments, in order to assist more people in finding employment and benefiting from proper social protection, as this is the only way to bring Europe home," emphasized Alexei Buzu.

The minister thanked the European Union for its support to Moldova. According to the official, the EU has funded several programmes that supported key reforms in labor and social protection and provided clear direct benefits for the citizens of the country.





European Commission's Executive Vice-President for Social Rights and Skills, Quality Jobs, and Training Roxana Minzatu said that the European Union supported the citizens of Moldova on their way towards better living standards, with the main goal being for every citizen to enjoy tangible benefits, salary increases, professional and training opportunities here, in Moldova.

"You might wonder what advantage a high-level dialogue has, since we already have negotiations initiated for Moldova's accession to the European Union? It is quite useful. We are starting today, because by working together at the ministerial level and our technical teams, we can save time on certain subjects. From candidates like Moldova, we see a lot of agility, and it's important to continue seeing this agility in the accession process. In the social and educational fields, I believe we can perform very well. Of course, everyone looks at the European Union as a financial support provider. That's true. The European Union invests in Moldovans, in education, in public services. We are preparing for the implementation of the Growth Plan, which comes with an unprecedented amount of almost 2 billion euros and has a very important component on education, skills, and the social area. Hundreds of millions of euros were allocated to this end. But beyond that, it's equally important to understand that the European project also comes with qualitative standards," said Roxana Minzatu.





Minister of Education and Research Dan Perciun said that the launch of the high-level dialogue between Moldova and the European Union in the fields of labor and education was a good opportunity to speed up initiatives implemented with EU support and to build an interpersonal dialogue that contributes to the acceleration of these initiatives.

"Today, we discussed three future initiatives around which we will build this dialogue. For us, it would be an extraordinary opportunity to offer a master's in European affairs here in Chisinau, alongside a high-caliber European university, and we rely on the fact that, through this high-level dialogue, we can accelerate this initiative and, in the near future, provide the best bachelor's graduates in our country with a European master's programme, a double degree, here in Chisinau. At the same time, today we discussed the possibility of Moldova becoming part of the European Union's Child Guarantee programme, which finances measures to reduce social exclusion. This means resources, especially for marginalized children, resources for children with disabilities, in order to make our educational system as inclusive as possible. Another important initiative is the Erasmus programme for schools. We would like to provide students with ability to benefit from visits to European schools," Dan Perciun noted.

European Commission's Executive Vice-President for Social Rights and Skills, Quality Jobs, and Training Roxana Minzatu is on a visit to Chisinau. A donation of three cars, 10 sets of IT equipment and office furniture for 10 territorial subdivisions of the National Employment Agency was made during the visit. The initiative is part of the EU Support for a More Inclusive Labor Market in Moldova project, funded by the European Union and implemented by the International Labour Organization (ILO).