Family friendly policies are needed to facilitate child rearing
DAHR’s MEP Csaba Sógor held a presentation entitled Blessing, population! on the 20th of July at the 22nd Summer University and Student Camp in Bálványos.
The Hungarian MEP from Transylvania, who is also the vice-president of the Family, Children’s rights and Bioethics Intergroup of the European Parliament, emphasized the importance of family friendly policies. He pointed out that constant population decline impacts on economic indicators as well. Csaba Sógor explained that the number of births is especially low in countries where the rate of unemployment is high, where there are considerable differences between wages for men and women, and also where women find it difficult to reintegrate themselves into the labor market after giving birth.
According to current statistics, Romania will only have 16 million inhabitants in 2050, half of these of Roma ethnicity– Sógor explained. Hungary also faces a grim future in this respect, there the population will drop to 6 million.
“We would need an average of 2,1 children per family in order to stop the population decline. Current data shows that Romanians have, on average, 1,2 children, Hungarians in Transylvania 1,3 and ethnic Romas 3” – he said.
The MEP considers that countries that show signs of population decline lack the necessary policies that support families. As an example, he mentioned France, a country that has no population problems because it has had a family-friendly policy for over 150 years.
A few key factors play a large role in this, namely associations strongly advocate for family interest, financial support for families with three or more children, and grant of child care support only after the birth of the second child.
“I consider that responsible decision makers ought to interfere into the lives of the families in order enhance the child rearing potential because this is more than a private matter, it influences social issues as well. Therefore we need legislation that supports families and a consequent engagement on behalf of the civic society” – said the Hungarian MEP from Transylvania.
