MADRID (AP) — The Spanish government wants to help working parents juggle the responsibilities of raising children and work by giving them more time off when their children get sick or during long summer vacations.
Ione Belarra, Spain’s social rights minister, on Tuesday presented the initial draft of a new “family law” bill that includes several measures aimed at facilitating work and raising children in a country that, like most of Europe, faces a low level. birth rate and population aging.
“We’re asking parents to be superheroes, and my intention with this law is that they can just be moms and dads, which is asking enough of them as it is,” Belarra said.
If passed by Parliament, the law would increase the right to paid leave from two to five days a year for all workers whose close relatives are sick or hospitalized.
It would also entitle parents to up to four days of paid leave per year to deal with unforeseen emergencies involving their families.
An additional eight weeks of unpaid leave would be made available annually to parents to care for their children up to the age of eight.
Belarra said the measure was designed to help parents care for children during the summer school holidays, which typically run from late June to mid-September, well beyond the number of vacation days that parents have them at their disposal. This measure would be phased in with six weeks of holiday in 2023 and then eight weeks in 2024.
Belarra said the law is designed to make it easier for Spaniards to have children if they want.
According to Eurostat, the statistics office of the European Union, Spain, with 7.1 births per 1,000 inhabitants, was the second lowest in the EU only in 2020, ahead of Italy. Spain led the bloc of 27 countries in 2019 in the number of women over 40 having children, with 10% of all live births.
The law would offer single-parent families with two or more children the same education subsidies and transportation discounts that are currently available to two-parent families with three or more children.
The bill may undergo changes during the legislative process before being voted on in Congress and the Senate to become law.
I’m a passionate and motivated journalist with a focus on world news. My experience spans across various media outlets, including Buna Times where I serve as an author. Over the years, I have become well-versed in researching and reporting on global topics, ranging from international politics to current events.