EUROPE: France pays mothers to have more children

[philosophie_en_rose]

http://www.newsweekly.com.au/articles/2005oct08%5Fe.html

Frenchwomen are to be given generous cash payments to encourage them to have a third child, writes John Ballantyne. The intended result? Larger families.

Middle-class Frenchwomen are to be given generous cash payments to encourage them to have a third child.

French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin announced his Government's new package of incentives on September 22 to a national family policy summit that brought together business leaders, trade unionists, public servants and family activists.

The new measures, designed to maintain France's population, include:


€750 (A$1,190) a month for any parent who stops work to care for a third child.

The doubling of the maximum tax deduction for parents who employ home help for children under six.

The tax cut for a third child to be double that for the first two.

Child allowance to be €115 (A$183) a month for two children, but €262 (A$417) a month for a third child.

The pension for couples with three or more children to be raised by 10 per cent.

Railways ticket prices to be reduced by up to three-quarters for families with three or more children.

Mothers with modest incomes to get a €826 (A$1,314) bonus for each new child, and smaller monthly payments until the child's third birthday and help with childcare.

Universal nursery education from age three.

[Mass]

1. No, France pays families. A father would get the money as well.

It would be against the law for any of these measures to apply to women only.

[philosophie_en_rose]

2. I didn't write the headline.

But thanks for clarifying. I do like that they provide money for any parent to stay home with the kids.

[redqueen]

3. THAT is real family values in action!

Not like here, where we force the parent(s) of poor households to work longer hours and stay away from the kids most of the time.

[philosophie_en_rose]

5. No kidding!

Although a solution to their problem might be to encourage international adoptions, it is nice that they support families so much.

Universal preschool is another great idea.

[Dora]

4. Ummm. Couldn't they adopt some unwanted American babies?

I'm joking, kind of.

[philosophie_en_rose]

6. How much do you think we could get?

Just kidding! Just kidding!

[theoldman]

7. China gets $10,000 to $20,000 per baby.

[Mass]

8. The only thing that confuses me in this article is that most of this

measures have been existing for years. What changed? Did they raise the numbers?

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. Yes, they raised them, and people said it was aimed at the middle class

the implication being the French government thought that the middle class were being 'outbred'.

It's now about a year since this was announced - but I'm not sure when (if?) it went into practice. It's proably a bit early to see any noticable results in the birth rate, too.