Madrid, Spain, Jan 6, 2011 / 14:03 pm
A new policy in Spain has put the country in last place among members of the European Union in the amount of aid given to families.
The policy eliminated a $3,200 subsidy per child for families in the country. It went into effect Jan. 1.
Luxembourg, Denmark and Austria provide the most assistance to families, reported the Institute for Family Policy.
The institute uses 10 indicators to analyze aid programs for families in the European Union, including the percentage of the GDP earmarked for such aid, subsidies per child, the length of maternity leave and the flexibility allowed in work schedules.
The institute’s president, Eduardo Hertfelder, denounced the new policy in a Dec. 30 statement and said it exposes the Socialist government’s “profound insensitivity and contempt” for families.
Hertfelder stated that a change of direction is needed as “aid for families is the most basic kind (of aid) a society needs.”
“It is the family that supports the social framework and prevents a social crisis of incalculable consequences. Without the family and the social functions it carries out, the huge levels of unemployment would have dramatically crushed our social structures,” he added.
The pro-life leader warned that if the current policies are not corrected, 2011 will be “an even darker year” for the family.
Decisions such as the elimination of the child subsidy prove that the basic cell of society has been “abandoned,” Hertfelder stated.
It is obvious that the government “has no political will to help families. In fact, we can say that the family in Spain is being punished by the government,” he concluded.