Romania: private care homes scandal
The Romanian state has accused businessman Viorel Pașca of running several retirement and care homes without a licence and depriving more than 400 people of their pensions and benefits. However, it has emerged that the vulnerable people in question were referred to Pașca directly by state institutions. For this and other reasons, commentators question what the real scandal is here: Pașca's behaviour or that of the state?
The state is shirking its responsibilities
Republica.ro sees the Romanian social sector heading towards a crisis:
“The proportion of elderly people will increase. We don't know who will pay for their pensions. We won't have anyone to support and help them (we already lack social workers and facilities where they can be cared for). We will have no doctors to treat them (because those who might otherwise have worked here are studying abroad and, for the most part, will stay there). ... Yes, the state has shirked its responsibility to ensure that the sick, the homeless and the elderly with a low income are cared for. ... And we're not even willing to acknowledge the immense problem that lies ahead, let alone discuss solutions.”
Social engagement in a grey area
There is probably no clear-cut answer here, writes theologian Teofil Stanciu in Contributors:
“Was Viorel Pașca acting according to the best of his knowledge and belief, or out of self-interest? For those who have visited his homes (several hundred people), there is no doubt that he has done good. Did he respect the law or break it? Most likely, he was operating in a grey area. How ethical was this? Well, one thing is clear: the state appears to have turned against a man with excessive legal rigour, having left him, through its bureaucratic indifference and institutional helplessness, to deal with a problem for which it itself has no viable solution.”
Blown out of proportion
Revista 22 finds the scale of the operation launched by the Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime (DIICOT) questionable:
“Why such a spectacle just to arrest a family, as if they were extremely dangerous mafia figures? ... Never before has DIICOT deployed such a vast array of resources to arrest and dismantle a criminal clan. ... The 409 residents of the home were taken away and scattered across the country. DIICOT claims to have rescued these people from the clutches of human traffickers and handed them over to legitimate institutions. It is quite possible that they are now worse off and that these very institutions were what drove them to Pașca in the first place. But that is no longer DIICOT's concern.”