Filenews 10 November 2024 - by Adamos Adamou
The slight delay with which the announcements were made on Monday evening on the measures to be implemented to address the demographic problem – as the President of the Republic had prepared announcements in mid-October – will continue for their implementation. At least for some of the measures announced, since their implementation horizon is the next 12 months.
However, from the Implementation Roadmap, presented last Wednesday by the Minister of Labor Yiannis Panayiotou, some of the measures will start to be implemented from this year and even with retroactive effect.
Specifically, the attempted increase in the Childbirth Allowance will have retroactive effect from October 1, 2024. Other measures, however, will start to be implemented in September 2025, which may also justify the rather lukewarm reception of announcements by opposition parties, which have pledged to present their own plans.
The new measures, following actions already implemented by the current Government and which, according to the Minister of Labour, constituted the first package of demographic measures – with a third to follow in the next 2-3 years – aim to address negative demographic trends.
Negative trends
These trends, which are also recorded in the EU, are summarized in the data of the last 20 years, as presented on Wednesday by Yiannis Panayiotou and are as follows:
- The average fertility rate per woman decreased from 1.46 children in 2002 to 1.37 children in 2022.
- The average maternal age at the birth of the first child increased from 26.7 years in 2002 to 29.8 years in 2022.
- Average life expectancy increased from 77.5 years in 2002 to 81.6 years in 2022.
- The proportion of employed and retired people in the indigenous population changed negatively from 2.51:1 in 2002 to 1.82:1 in 2022.
Measures costing €50 million
In order to address the above, the Council of Ministers, the Minister of Labour said, decided to implement an integrated Policy Framework for the country's demographic recovery, which aims to address negative demographic trends through the reconciliation of family and professional life in order to shape an increasing trend in the fertility rate and increased participation in the production process to improve the ratio of workers to pensioners.
This framework includes the second package of measures announced in a televised message by the President of the Republic last Monday and which was presented in detail last Wednesday by three members of the Council of Ministers: the Minister of Labour, the Deputy Minister of Social Welfare and the Deputy Minister to the President.
The measures of the 2nd package
According to the presentation, the second package of measures, amounting to EUR 50 million, will be implemented by the Commission. The first includes measures aimed at increasing the fertility rate and measures aimed at improving the ratio of workers to pensioners. The measures to boost the fertility rate are the following:
- The increase of the Childbirth Grant,
- the extension of the beneficiaries of the Parental Leave Allowance,
- the targeted increase in the duration of the Parental Leave Allowance,
- the deletion of criteria for the payment of child benefit to all families with five dependent children or more;
- the creation of crèches in workplaces,
- the extension of the opening hours of kindergartens, and
- financial support for younger mothers.
The measures to improve the ratio of workers to pensioners are:
- To support the employment of unemployed and inactive women, unemployed under 30 and unemployed over 50,
- the promotion of seasonal work of pupils, and
- the institutionalization of paid internships.
Bills within weeks
Several of the above measures will need legislative regulations, with the Minister of Labour informing about the government's planning in this direction and delineating the government's next steps.
As the Minister of Labour mentioned, the government's planning includes the submission of bills within the next few weeks for the immediate implementation of the following measures:
- Increase in the amount of the Childbirth Allowance paid by the Social Insurance Fund to approximately 8,000 mothers per year, from €628.92 to €1,000 for the first child, to €1,500 for the second child and to €2,000 for the third child, which will be applied retroactively from October 1, 2024.
- Extension of the Parental Leave Allowance, through which the beneficiaries of this benefit will be doubled by extending the age limit of the child from eight years to 15 years.
- Targeted increase in the duration of the Parental Leave Allowance for the second child from eight weeks to 10 weeks and for the third child from eight weeks to 12 weeks.
- Payment of child benefit to all families with five dependent children or more with the elimination of income criteria.
In addition, the government planning includes the following measures that will be gradually implemented in 2025 as below:
- The creation of kindergartens in workplaces with the support of businesses through subsidizing the cost of creating Crèches, Childcare Centers and Centers for the Protection and Employment of Children for the needs of working parents, for businesses and business partnerships, will start to be implemented through the announcement of a plan within the second quarter of 2025.
- The extension of the opening hours of kindergartens through the pilot extension of the afternoon opening hours of Nurseries and Kindergartens until 19:30, to better meet the needs of working parents, will begin to be implemented within the third quarter of 2025.
- The financial support for younger mothers who are eligible for the childbirth grant and have their first child before the age of 30, with the payment of financial support of €200 per month for a period of 24 months after the birth with a total amount of €4,800, will start to apply from September 2025.
- The reinforcement of the employment of unemployed people over 50 years old through the provision of guidance, salary subsidy and vocational training for the employment of 315 people will start to be implemented with the announcement of a plan within the next few weeks.
- The reinforcement of the employment of unemployed and inactive women through the provision of guidance, salary subsidies and vocational training for the employment of 400 women will start to be implemented with the announcement of a plan in early 2025.
- The reinforcement of the employment of unemployed people under the age of 30 through the provision of guidance, salary subsidy and vocational training for the employment of 350 people will start to be implemented with the announcement of a plan in early 2025.
The measures already running for the demographic
Both the President of the Republic on Monday and the Minister of Labour on Wednesday referred to the first package of measures that has already begun to be implemented for demographic recovery. Measures with beneficial measurable results for thousands of families, as advocated by the PD.
The measures already under way, amounting to ECU 50 million, will be implemented by the Commission. euro, are the following:
- Increase the length of maternity leave for the first child, from 18 to 22 weeks.
- Extension of recipients of parental leave allowance to include self-employed persons.
- Approval of the housing subsidy scheme for young couples and young people up to 41 years old.
- Approval of the subsidy scheme for infertile couples resorting to IVF.
- Increase of the honorary allowance of the mother of many children.
- Increase of Child Benefit.
- Extension of child benefit coverage to include students belonging to large families with 50% of the Child Allowance benefit.
- Extension of the beneficiaries of the Tuition and Child Food Subsidy Scheme so that all beneficiaries of the Child Allowance receive it and extension of the age limit of eligible children from 4 to 4.5 years.
- Expand compulsory early childhood education and strengthen capacity to provide childcare services for working parents.
