Bucharest, July 2nd, 2007

The non-profit association Habitat for Humanity Romania, in collaboration with the Ministry of Development, Public Works and Housing, under the patronage of the European Commission Representation in Romania, released the project on “Euro2007Habitat Build” on July 2nd. Through this project, 650 volunteers are to build 27 houses, each representing a Member State of the European Union for families in need in Radauti, on September 1 – 9, 2007. The release was preceded by a round table on “Aspects of Poor Housing in Romania and the EU: Present and Future”. The Ambassador Donato Chiarini, Head of the European Commission Representation in Romania, and Mr. Laszlo Borbely, Minister of Development, Public Works and Housing attended the event.

On this occasion, the Ambassador Donato Chiarini, Head of the European Commission Representation in Romania, stated: “I particularly appreciate this initiative and I consider that bringing volunteers from all over the world to work together to the benefit of the families in need is a beautiful example of solidarity, a European value that the Romanians fully share”.

The Minister of Development, Public Works and Housing, Laszlo Borbely, stated: "The issue of poor housing is a reality and we have to set up partnerships between all the actors involved, in order to solve it. We need good coordination and collaboration to rehabilitate degraded areas through integrated projects for urban development.”

The participants to the round table approached the issue of poor housing in the European Union, the right of each and every European citizen to decent living conditions, the context of living conditions of the poor population of Romania, strategic directions in assisting wretched social classes, as well as successful solutions as approached by Habitat, the greatest non-profit builder of social houses worldwide. In this context, Adrian Dan, lecturer at the University of Bucharest, coordinator of the survey on “Housing Diagnosis: the Need of Housing and Precarious Housing” (published by ICCV – Institute of Life Quality Research, 2004), introduced a new academic perspective of poor housing and lack of shelter to the participants.
The round table on poor housing will open the way to other officials to plea in favor of access of people in need to housing. This joint endeavor is added to the mission of the Habitat to build houses together with people that need them and will facilitate access to houses for several families in need for a decent home that they cannot afford.

Euro2007Habitat Build will take place in Rădăuţi, on September 1 – 9, 2007, near the new EU border. It will be the sign of solidarity and wish for wellbeing in the European area. Thus, Rădăuţi will become the European capital of volunteering and fight against inhuman housing.

Contact: Zamfir Todor, Habitat for Humanity România, tel 0724292541, e-mail: zamfir.todor@habitat.ro