Victor Ponta warns of a stalled system for foreign workers in Romania

Victor Ponta, leader of the Uniți pentru România group, issued a public alert about the dysfunction of Romania’s foreign-worker licensing framework. He noted that, unlike other EU members, Romania has allowed the situation to persist without public censure. According to Ponta, a judge at the Bucharest Court of Appeal invoked a precedent to halt the Ministry of Labour’s online application procedure, effectively freezing the entire system.

The suspension has forced recruitment agencies to stop campaigns, halted projects that rely on foreign staff, and eliminated state revenues from consular fees, social contributions and payroll taxes. Ponta criticized the government’s inability to resolve the issue and called on the newly appointed labour minister, Florin Manole, to intervene and unblock the process.