Romanian BNS Demands Urgent Labor Law Reforms Following EU Poverty Strategy

The Blocul Național Sindical (BNS), one of Romania's five representative trade‑union confederations, has called on politicians to enact swift reforms of labour legislation, social protection and housing policy, aligning with the European Union’s new Strategy for combating poverty. The strategy, presented by the European Commission on 6 May 2026, sets an objective to eradicate poverty by 2050 and introduces the AROPE metric, noting that roughly 92.7 million Europeans are at risk of poverty or social exclusion.

BNS highlighted Romania’s high poverty risk – about one‑quarter of the population – and urged concrete measures such as raising the minimum wage to a decent living level, expanding collective bargaining coverage, creating quality jobs, and improving access to affordable housing. President Dumitru Costin said, “Combatting poverty cannot be reduced to social benefits; it requires decent wages, quality jobs, affordable housing and efficient public services.” The union warned that Romania can no longer postpone these reforms.