Baby-Gate

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. Germany has the lowest birth rate in Europe, at 1.36 births per 1000 people per year, beaten only by Portugal at 1.32.

The problem child (Der Spiegel 6, 2013)

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 study's findings are dynamite in an election year, especially since the Merkel administration, against strong opposition, recently pushed through the Kinderbetreuungsgeld (child care allowance), also called Herdprämie (heard award), which gives €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 of €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. So far, even Social Democrats have put their money on the traditional family, with the father earning and the mother staying at home, hopefully raising 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 have children later, have only one child, and are frequently single parents. This latter group is excluded from many current 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 can help increase birth rates, but the paradigm shift is still unacceptable to 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. The 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 to those defending traditional marriage.

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