Villagers in Constanta county, Romania, will be given goats rather than money in a controversial new benefit scheme.
Some 20 families in the village of Independenta will be given ten goats each from next month, which they will be expected to use for food and income.
The project - during which three kids per year must be returned to the local council as a tax - has been criticised by expatriate Romanians who say such a scheme humiliates the country.
Ananova reports that Romanians based in the US say that the programme
means that the country "is presented in a humiliating way and depicted as a Romanistan".
However, Independenta mayor Cristea Giscan said that the benefits road was paved with good intentions, with the project proving very popular among the villagers:
"By giving poor families money we were only encouraging them to live from others' work which is very unethical. Those who oppose the programme are simply not willing to work."
