Equitable social policies involve the budgetary cake redistribution

"For me (cit. Marian Preda), IDIS "Viitorul "is the most important NGO in Moldova". Thus began the 15th course "Social policy within the European Union", held by Prof. Dr. Marian Preda from the University of Bucharest at the Political Training School on 16 and 17 March.

The author began the training in the style of Deborah Stone, which uses to ask students to share a chocolate cake among themselves in a fair way. Thus, participants at the Training School have suggested various ways to share the delicious cake, some of whom considered necessary to give to those who love sweets, to be divided depending on the structure of gender or after the merits of each. "The right to benefit is equal, but the benefit is unequal," said the author of the course. Through this exercise, Professor Marian Preda explained to youth that social policies represent the redistribution of the budgetary cake, a cake that, in most cases, is previously divided in the backstage. "It is not easy to make social policy, ie to split the budget between the different categories of citizens, as some have needs, others have contributed all their lifetime, while others believe the state is responsible for ensuring their social welfare. You must be careful to not include those who don’t deserve and don’t need this policies”,  added Marian Preda.

To characterize the social policies of different countries and to compare these policies, the Saturday course was devoted to models of welfare states. Thus, young leaders have learned that there are several criteria for the classification of these models, and many diverse factors that have determined their evolution. "The state should intervene as a last resort, because otherwise, demotivates and creates dependence. We must remove from the mind the idea that the social policy should only be done by the state ", said Prof. Dr. Marian Preda. As about the poor, Mr.. Preda said that their big problem is that they do not gather enough that then to share and distribute. Therefore, poor countries cannot be considered welfare states. On social policies in Moldova, the author declared that there exist social protection because some of citizens have a job and collect their money. After describing the welfare state models, participants realized that there is no good or bad models, but there are models suitable for different countries and social contexts. Also, through examples made by Mr. Marian Preda, participants have found new and interesting information about the rate of poverty, employment or even the ratio of pensioners and those aged 60 years and more from Romania, a report showing the vast differences in the level of regions caused by the demographic deforestation.

At the end of the course, Prof. Dr. Marian Preda urged youth leaders to work up to 70 years and he hopes that they will govern in 10, 15 years and will make effective social policies. According to participants, the training was a unique one "Taking into account the trainer personality – the course was just great. It included the incomprehensible, spoke for majority and we learned the meaning of many things that before were considered less important. I would like to have more courses with such professionals”, said Adriana Zbigli, one of the participants at the Political Training School.

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The project "Advanced Learning for Highly Motivated Young Political Leaders in Moldova" runs from September 2011 - August 2012 and aims to train young political leaders in Moldova, training based on applying interactive learning methods. Theoretical courses are held weekly by a team of experts from academia, business and public administration, career diplomats and other public actors.

Material prepared by Veverita Ana - Maria, Project Assistant, Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) „Viitorul”, phone: 221844, e-mail: ana.veverita@viitorul.org