Center Party: Child Benefit Should Be Linked to Cost of Living
While saying it liked the Cabinet's bill to raise child benefits, the opposition Center Party said it was unacceptable that the benefit was stuck at just 19 euros a month for so long before the proposed increase, calling for the benefit to be linked to the consumer price index.
"The fact that the benefit stayed unchanged for 10 years is a stigma," said Center Party MP Mailis Reps, "and to keep it from happening again, the benefit should be indexed, similarly to pensions."
The proposal is that the benefit should be adjusted each year based on the increase in the CPI and social tax receipts.
She said that the bill was only now about to be read by the Social Affairs Committee and that the Center Party faction would introduce an amendment proposal next week.
Reps said she was afraid that the proposed increase would be used as a temporary promise before general elections next year, then be shelved.
The bill would see child benefits rise to 45 euros a month each for the first and second child and to 100 euros a month for the third and successive children.