Representatives of the public association “Veterans’ Force” want a meeting with Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița so as to discuss the Government decision on the replacement of the war veteran’s permit and the constitution of commissions for determining the number of veterans. According to them, the given commissions should be reorganized. They call on all the war veterans to unite as they can make themselves heard only this way.
In a news conference at IPN, Constantin Covrig, manager of the public association “Veterans’ Force”, said the Government decision on the replacement of the war veteran’s permit and the constitution of commissions for determining the number of veterans contains shortcomings, namely as regards the commissions. The veterans consider the goal of the commissions was to reduce the number of veterans and, as a result, over 10,000 war veterans were deprived of the title of veterans. Other commissions need to be created so that these include veterans from districts. The subject was discussed with the Parliament Speaker and the President, who expressed their support. They now need to discuss with the Premier so as to agree a working commission and to decide how to improve the Government decision.
In another development, Constantin Covrig said that Nicolae Gîrbu, director of the Bureau for Relations with Veterans, who was named by the previous government by a mimicked contest, should produce a report and say what he did to improve the living conditions of veterans. “We made a public call to all the veterans to ask for a report from him. We called on the Premier and the Government’s secretary general to dismiss him and to announce an authentic contest. He also said that the veterans want the Bureau to have broader powers so as to fulfill its duties to improve the life of veterans.
Andrei Eremia, deputy manager of the public association “Veterans’ Force”, spoke about the veterans’ request to amend law No. 190 of 2003. The main points are: provision of a lump-sum of 3,000 lei, issuing of free tickets to sanatorium each year (now tickets are issued once in three years), provision of health instance to all the veterans starting from the age of 55, either they work or not, and of dental prostheses, setting the retirement age at 55, funerals paid with state funds, introduction of the events of 1991-1992 in the school curriculum. The bill was discussed in the meeting with representatives of the commission on social protection, health and family.
The veterans also request to constitute a Bureau for Veterans’ Problems. According to Andrei Eremia, such a bureau was created, but it is rather symbolical and does not have a working mechanism. Such a bureau is needed for the war veterans who need a particular document to obtain all kinds of document there. The bureau can take over all the duties from ministries and other institutions dealing with the problems of veterans.
Dorel Roșca, the association‘s secretary general, said the veterans last year showed that they can achieve results only if they are united. The rise of 250 lei expected at the start of October is also due to their insistence to unite. He called on the veterans to combine forces as they can achieve what they want only united.
Vladimir Buga, head of the Nisporeni local organization “Veterans’ Force”, called on the war veterans to form only one war veterans’ organization. Their organization joined “Veterans’ Force” on September 12. The veterans from Nisporeni will support the given public association until the government solves the problems faced by the veterans.
