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Opposition wants EU to fund families

PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge 17.03.2014 11:11
Opposition leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski has declared he would seek EU funding for families who have a second child if he wins the 2015 election, as Poland faces a looming demographic deficit.

Jaroslaw
Jaroslaw Kaczynski in Slupsk, northern Poland. Photo: PAP/ Jan Dzban

Kaczynski's socially conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, currently 5 percent ahead of Prime Minister Donald Tusk's centre-right Civic Platform in the polls, would aim to divide the funding between the state treasury and the EU.

“Today, having a child is a heavy burden,” Kaczynski said at a meeting in Slupsk, during a tour of the Pomerania region of northern Poland over the weekend.

“Because of this, we would pay 500 zloty per month (118 euro) for every second child in a family. The poorest families will also be paid for their first child,” Kaczynski added.

He estimated that about 2 billion euros per year would be needed from EU coffers.

Data compiled by Eurostat indicates that Poland's population could drop from 38.2 million to 29 million by 2050.

The average woman in Poland has 1.3 children, whereas recent research by Britain's Office for National Statistics has found that the typical Polish-born woman in England and Wales has given birth to 2.13 children.

“The instability of employment [in Poland], the difficulty in placing your child in a nursery or kindergarten and little parental support from the state are discouraging couples from having children,” Professor Irena E. Kotowska from the Institute of Statistics and Demography told the Rzeczpospolita daily last month.

Besides announcing a child benefit programme Kaczynski also said in Slupsk that his party would create a new administrative region in the area, thus making Poland's 17th region.

Poland's next general elections are due next year. (nh/pg)

Source: IAR

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