The poor in Moldova will eat for free in social canteens

By September 25, the local authorities of all levels are to catalogue all the underprivileged persons to be offered food free of charge. The meals will be covered by the state budget and humanitarian aid provided by international donors in assistance to alleviate the consequences of this year’s drought. The meals, free of charge, will be arranged for in social canteens. In case these are not available, school canteens will be used instead. Radu Caruta, department chief of the Ministry of Local Public Administration, stated that the methodology for organising this process will be published after determining the list of citizens in every locality and evaluating the costs of a free alimentation by the Ministry of Social Protection, Family and Child together with the Agency of Material Reserve, Public Procurement and Humanitarian Aid, which will receive the donations. The government was advised to use school canteens for the meals in rural localities by Henri Josserand, head of FAO mission to Moldova, during the presentation of the preliminary Report for evaluating the loss caused by the drought. He also suggested increasing the number of students who receive free meals in schools. Josserand mentioned that besides the help from international organisations, the state could also get involved in additional activities to support the persons most affected by the drought. Among these, he mentioned the possibility of cancelling the taxes on land, taxes on economic activities in rural areas and taxes on imports of basic food products. “This implies budget and fiscal costs, but the Government has to consider it, because it’s the easiest and most direct way for helping people”, Josserand said.