Romanian labour ministers clash over deceased names in EU-funded recovery report

The accusation

Labour Minister Florin Manole accused his predecessor Dragoș Pîslaru on Monday, 2 November, of sending Brussels a list of people leaving residential care that included people who had died. Manole said almost 500 further cases were non-compliant and that the figures had been dressed up with false reporting. He argued that a correction of recovery-plan funds is unavoidable and that Romania will lose money, because checks due in July and August were carried out wrongly. He also said ministry colleagues had warned Pîslaru in writing several times in August that the data needed checking and supporting documents.

“For this reason, the correction of PNRR funds is inevitable. Romania will lose money, because the verification and reporting that had to be done in July and August were wrong.”

How the figures moved

The deinstitutionalisation file passed to the new ANPDPD leadership on 10 July under an official protocol, leaving almost two months until 31 August to verify it. In early September the authority announced that the target had been reached, with 3,976 people reported. When the table reached the European Commission, officials found missing information, deaths, transfers to other residential centres and people who had not been institutionalised before 2020. After a ministry review, 478 cases were removed, and the real figure, in the ministry's account, was 3,498 people. The timeline below sets out the dates the sources give.

The dispute over dates and numbers

Manole's chronology says the ANPDPD sent the 3,976 table to the ministry on 12 October at 16:27, and that it was forwarded the same day at 16:56 to the Ministry of Investment and European Projects and the Commission. He says the Commission asked for a revision on 22 October, flagging missing supporting documents. Pîslaru instead places the 3,976 report on 31 August, when the authority reported eligible people and no deaths in centres. Manole's summary report, which he says was signed by Ana Rădulescu, treats the 3,976 figure as enough to declare the target of 4,000 people met for 2021 to 31 August 2026.

Reported by ANPDPD3,976

Removed after ministry review478

Real figure per ministry review3,498

Reported by ANPDPD

3976 persons

Removed after ministry review

478 persons

Real figure per ministry review

3498 persons

Data from the article text

Pîslaru's rebuttal

Pîslaru said on Tuesday, 3 November, that he was stunned by the minister's audacity and that the list Manole shows on television is the 30 June list. He said it was drawn up and signed by former ANPDPD president Alexandra Zară, a woman who had been appointed and backed by the PSD. He said he dismissed her over what he called disastrous management, and that Ana Rădulescu replaced her and cleaned up the situation.

“The dead were removed by us, after the PSD put them on the lists.”

Pîslaru also said the Commission's checks concern methodology, such as the eligibility of young people saved from the system, rather than falsification. He accused Manole of being unable to hold technical talks with European experts and of looking for a scapegoat.

“The reporting of 3,976 deinstitutionalised people was the most rigorous, correct and clean compilation possible on the basis of the data available at that time.”

The sources do not say when the Commission will decide on the revised table.