Baby-Gate

The problem child (Der Spiegel 6,2013)

A study commissioned by the German government reached a damning verdict on the country's efforts to boost its low birth rate. It says billions of euros are wasted on complex benefits and tax breaks that are largely ineffective and sometimes even counterproductive. The fact is that Germany has the one but lowest birth rate in Europe, with 1.36 births per 1000 people in a year, only beaten by Portugal with a rate of 1.32. 

Compare this to France's 1.99 ex aequo with the States and to an impressive 2.96 for Israel trying to keep up with the birthrate of the Palestinians. The government tried to keep the commission's report under the hood until after the federal election in the fall. Still, Der Spiegel published parts of it, risking that until September 22, German family policy will degrade into family politics.

The result of the study is dynamite in an election year, particularly since, against strong opposition, the Merkel administration recently pushed through the Kinderbetreungsgeld (child care allowance), also called Herdprämie (heard award), attributing €100 per month to women who stay at home looking after their children. 

However, according to the report, this recently added benefit meant to boost procreation is counterproductive. Some women will take the money rather than look for work. It means they are not only lost as taxpayers but also an additional charge to the federal budget with €2 billion yearly. 

The "heard award" comes on top of a "child supplement," "parental benefit," an "allowance for single parents," a "married person's supplement," a "sibling bonus," "orphan money," and "a child education supplement," not to forget the "child education supplementary supplement" as Der Spiegel enumerates. All this costs the taxpayer a total of €200 billion per year.

In discussing Germany's birthrate, the commission's report calls the efforts of all governments over the last 50 years to boost procreation a lost cause. Up to now, even Social Democrats have put their money into the traditional family, with the father earning and the mother staying at home, hopefully looking after many children. All the "experts" did not consider that an increasing number of women are moving into traditionally male professions making careers, thus having no time for babies when young. 

Nowadays, in Germany, more women are leaving university with a degree than men. If at all, women now are birthing late, remain with only one child, and frequently are single parent. The latter excludes these mothers from many present benefits tailored to traditional families. Therefore, the commission recommends massively extending the daycare, pre-, and all-day schooling facilities, three domains Germany needs to improve compared to its European neighbors.

Local experience in rural areas has shown that such measures will help increase birth rates, but the paradigm change is still unacceptable for many. The Christian Democrat Family Minister Kristina Schröder, 35, mother of a one-and-a-half-year-old child, defended the traditional values demanding, "The most important thing is to adapt working life more to the needs of families instead of going on requiring families to keep on adapting to the requirements of the working world." In fact, she is asking enterprises, particularly those needing a female workforce, to implement family-friendly measures locally.

Government money should be used differently, i.e., stimulating birth rates rather than supporting traditional family values. Fact is, what Social Democrat Manuela Schwesig said, "The government's policy on families is shaped by a picture of the family that is half a century old. Single parents or couples with children without a marriage certificate are virtually ignored."

Here we go again: Couples living together without a license and having babies are devilish for those defending traditional marriage.

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