Roxana Minzatu selected as Executive Vice-President for People, Skills and Preparedness in new EC

Roxana Minzatu, Romania's candidate for the European Commission, has been selected as Executive Vice-President for People, Skills and Preparedness in the new European Commission, announced by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels on Tuesday."I am very happy to entrust the role of Executive Vice-President for People, Skills and Preparedness to Roxana Minzatu, She will have the portfolio with responsibility for skills, education and quality jobs and social rights. This is under the umbrella of a union of skills and the European pillar of social rights. She will focus on those areas which are crucial to our society," said Ursula von der Leyen.   According to a European Commission document, quoted by HotNews.ro, the duties and responsibilities for this portfolio assigned to Roxana Minzatu are: The first responsibility is the development of a new Competence Union. It is the first time that the Commission will have a dedicated portfolio for skills, focusing on education with a focus on the labor market.   “Skills work will focus on investment, skills retention, upskilling and reskilling and the development of the European Education Area and an initiative on skills portability. Although before these policies are disconnected, their significance means that they must be developed by a member of the College, drawing on different elements – from the recognition of qualifications to education and training.”   The second core part is the responsibility for the European Pillar of Social Rights. “The portfolio will oversee several initiatives, including algorithmic management, the right to disconnect, the roadmap for quality jobs or the anti-poverty strategy. It will analyze the impact of digitization on the labor market. The portfolio is also at the forefront of social dialogue, working with European trade union and employer representatives, and following up on a new European Pact for Social Dialogue. In addition, the portfolio aims to address structural factors and the impact of demographic change. In this sense, the portfolio will be responsible for implementing the Demography Toolbox and increasing participation on the labor market”.   The Labor Commissioner is responsible for almost a fifth of the EU budget. “This portfolio is one of the most substantial in terms of EU funding, with significant stakes in the next Multiannual Financial Framework. It includes responsibility for the European Social Fund Plus, the Social Fund for Climate and Erasmus+, which represents almost a fifth of the EU budget,” the cited document states.   The portfolio has legislative responsibilities in the areas of free movement of workers and social law, shaping EU labor law and labor mobility legislation. It also includes responsibilities in areas such as minimum wage, platform work, working time and occupational health and safety. It also focuses significantly on the coordination of Member States’ policies in the fields of employment, education and vocational training.   The person responsible for this portfolio will work with the Commission’s services dealing with employment, social affairs and inclusion, as well as those working in education. The portfolio also involves the coordination of a number of decentralized agencies, including the European Labor Authority.   Institutionally, the person in charge of this portfolio will represent the College in two Council formations: Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumers (EPSCO) and the Council’s Education, Youth, Culture and Sport (EYCS) Formation. They will be the main counterpart of the Ministers of Employment, Social Rights and Education and, in the European Parliament, the main counterpart for the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) and the Committee on Culture and Education (CULT).   Roxana Minzatu told Digi24 that the policies he will manage under the new college of commissioners have allocated 20% of the EU’s multiannual budget. She also emphasized the importance of this portfolio that was assigned to the European Commissioner appointed from Romania, giving examples of programs already implemented in the country. “It is a success that we should celebrate and an effort that the Government has made, all those who have been active in the European environment. It was time for Romania to have such an influence”, said the PSD MEP. “I worked in the area of European funding and in the area ofcohesion policy. The social portfolio, because we are talking about social Europe, the one that I will have to shepherd in all this effort for Europe’s competitiveness. The social portfolio includes the management of 20% of the EU’s multiannual budget. We are primarily looking at the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), which has a 143 billion euro envelope at European level. In Romania, we have concrete examples of interventions already carried out, the Sprijin vouchers for Romania of 250 lei, energy cards, the Star-Up Nation program, intervention in the area offree medical tests, screenings, etc. The Social Climate Fund – a new financing tool that is being programmed to support vulnerable people in everything that the transition to a green economy, to green energy means. We will start implementing them somewhere from 2026. Here we have an allocation of 65 billion euros, to which are also added the contributions of the member states. Also, my portfolio will include the well-known program, emblematic at the European level, Erasmus, which also has an allocation of 26 billion euros, “ Minzatu stated.   Roxana Minzatu is the Social Democratic Party (PSD) Member of the European Parliament and she is regarded as a professional with expertise in European funds, having less of a political profile. She served as the Minister for European Funds in the Dancila government (2019-2021). She has not been involved in any public scandals. According to a 2019 financial disclosure, her husband works at the Brasov Regional Customs Office.   In 2016, she was elected to the Romanian Chamber of Deputies representing Brasov, and in 2019, she was appointed Minister for European Funds in the Dancila government.   Other relevant information from her public CV:   Minzatu holds a degree in political science, taught in English. She is specialized in attracting non-reimbursable European funds, following several years as a consultant in the field and project manager. Previously, she served as an integration advisor at the Ministry of European Integration. In 2015, she was Secretary of State in the Ministry for European Funds and later became the head of the National Agency for Public Procurement.   PNL slams PM on portfolio assigned to Romania   However, the Romanian Social Democratic Party’s ruling partners, the Liberals from PNL, have slammed PM Marcel Ciolacu on the portfolio assigned to Romania within the next EC.   “The portfolio obtained by Prime Minister Ciolacu is empty of content, has zero concrete competences and is the opposite of what he promised to achieve,” Siegfried Muresan, a member of the PNL and vice-president of the European People’s Party, wrote on Facebook on Tuesday.   “At the beginning of the summer, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said that Romania has a real chance to get the portfolio of European Commissioner for the Economy and he publicly assumed the goal of getting that position. At that time, I declared that our country has minimal chances to obtain the portfolio for the Economy because we have been in the excessive deficit procedure since 2017, during the PSD government, and the Ciolacu Government is increasing the deficit, instead of reducing it”, Muresan sai   “We now see that Marcel Ciolacu has obtained for Romania a portfolio with a pompous title, but which does not have an economic component, as he promised, but a social component, without clear attributions and through which he will not coordinate the general directions within the Commission that takethe important decisions for Romania”, he added.   “Cohesion, agriculture, investments, industry – the most important areas for our country, through which European funds are allocated directly to Romania, will be coordinated by other commissioners. Therefore, the portfolio obtained by Marcel Ciolacu is not a victory, but a failure. Romania did not need a commissioner with an honorary position, but a commissioner who can influence decisions on the areas that matter the most for Romania“, Muresan concluded. (Photo:https://www.facebook.com/roxanaminzatubrasov/?locale=ro_RO)