Minister: Those fit for work must work for welfare

Minister: Those fit for work must work for welfare

BELGRADE -- Serbia's Minister of Labor Aleksandar Vulin rejected on Tuesday the criticism leveled at him for saying that persons receiving welfare should work.

"Those who are fit to work and are on welfare will work for that welfare and they will do what is in accordance with their skills and physical fitness... and that will be determined by the Social Work Center," he stated.

The centers will sign agreements with the local governments that need such work, "like mowing lawns, cemetery maintenance and snow clearing," he explained.

"No one is asking people who are in a state of poverty to do something shameful," he said.

"Those who do not want to work for whatever reason, but are fit to work, will be offered one more chance. Their welfare will be reduced, but that going to their children, who are not to blame for their father's or mother's refusal to work when they are able to," Vulin noted.

Welfare should not be a lasting category, because it is not a job, he pointed out.

"It is a bad moment and a problem individuals find themselves in... and they should fight and overcome that problem," he said.

The government adopted on October 15 a regulation on measures for social inclusion of people on welfare, which were criticized by the opposition in the parliament on Tuesday.

Parliament members from the Democratic Party and New Party, Gordana Čomic and Zoran Živković, stated that the regulation that forced those on welfare to work or get an education in order to continue receiving assistance from the state was incomprehensible and in violation of the Labor Law.