More aid needed for families to combat demographic winter in Spain, group says

Madrid, Spain, Feb 1, 2008 / 17:00 pm

 

The president of the Institute for Family Policy in Spain, Eduardo Hertfelder, asked politicians this week who are running for office to include in their proposals a “universal” aid package for families with children under the age of 18 in order to put the brakes on the demographic winter that is gripping the country.

“The political parties still have not wagered for the family,” Hertfelder said, explaining that “despite the clear relation between the lack of assistance to the family and the decline of the birth rate and the demographic winter, no political party up to now has announced measures that will help overcome the discrimination and injustice that exist in Europe regarding aid per child.  We run the risk that the family will again be greatly ignored in election campaigns,” he stated.

“Although the political parties sometimes mention the importance of the family, and some parties have even announced interesting concrete measures, the great challenges facing the family in Spain have still not been truly confronted,” Hertfelder stressed.

He went on to say that the Institute for Family Policy has called on political parties to include in their campaign proposals economic aid in the amount of “$185 per child per month ($2,224 per year) until the age of 18, for all Spanish families (regardless of income).”

Experts say Spain is the country with least aid for the family and has one of the lowest birth rates of any country in the European Union.  “The less aid there is for the family in a country, the greater the decline in the birth rate,” Hertfelder pointed out.