Eugen Osmokescu faces awkward timing after migration remarks
No sooner had Economic Development and Digitalisation Minister Eugen Osmokescu tried to justify the import of foreign workers than Europe Liberă published a report that appears to cut directly against his argument.
On Tuesday, May 19, Osmokescu distanced himself from his own remarks about attracting 300,000 migrants. He then explained the need for foreign labour by saying that idle Moldovans supposedly do not want to work for low wages.
“We have an economically inactive population, people who do not want to work because they say wages are too low,” the minister said.
Then came the report from a dormitory of the Technical University of Moldova.
Foreign workers housed at TUM
The institution, led by a deputy and three-time rector, has signed contracts with 20 companies to house foreign employees. Around 480 workers from India and Bangladesh are now living there.
According to the report, they are studying Romanian, adapting to life in Moldova, and working mainly in construction and delivery.
Their average monthly earnings are said to be between 20,000 and 24,000 lei.
That raises an obvious question for Osmokescu: are these salaries really “low”?
Is it truly so difficult to find Moldovans willing to pay 1,300 lei for a dormitory room while earning around 20,000 lei a month? And if these are supposedly low-paid jobs, why is it necessary to bring workers from the other side of the world to fill them?
The government’s explanation is becoming harder to sell. On paper, ministers talk about lazy locals and labour shortages. In practice, the figures suggest that the issue may be less about Moldovans refusing to work and more about a migration policy being pushed without an honest public debate.
