“Our central concern is the country’s demographic problem,” stressed the President of PASOK-Movement for Change. Nikos Androulakis, who met on Thursday morning with the Supreme Confederation of Multiple Children of Greece.

Nikos Androulakis in his deposition stated:

“The priority of our program and our central concern is the country’s demographic problem.

We have announced targeted measures that will support young couples and large families.

First of all, for each child born, an allowance of 200 euros per month for each child born up to the age of 3, always with income criteria.

We also propose that there be tax exemptions and tax incentives for families with children. Do you know that the tax difference between a family with up to 2 children and a family without children is minimal compared to other European states, such as Portugal, which has a similar population.

We consider the reinstatement of the tax deduction for children who study away from their parents’ place of residence to be an important measure. Our position is that no child should be left out of nurseries and centers for creative work.

This also has to do with the position of the mother in society and the continuation of her professional career.

We also tabled an amendment for a maternity allowance for self-employed women which will be equal to the minimum wage and finally I have spoken many times about a social housing programme, as in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Austria, Germany. Creating a pool of 150,000 homes either newly built by the Recovery Fund or by opening foreclosed homes with tax incentives and reconstruction incentives, so that with social criteria they can be given to new couples to start their lives with a very low rent and dignity. The difference between our program and the corresponding program of New Democracy is as follows: New Democracy talks about new ownership, that is, it gives low-interest loans so that families can get a house. However, the criteria they set help very few because the cost of housing has risen a lot in all urban centers. We are not talking about ownership, but only about rent.

This contributes to social mobility and helps to bring rents down overall, because by having large parcels of cheap housing in the urban fabric, it creates a competition to the bottom. So it’s not just these 150,000 families who benefit, but many others as well.

Large families may not be what they were in the past but we should try to reach the levels of previous decades. It is the biggest national issue to deal with demographics.”

The meeting was attended by:

-Vassilios Theotokatos, President of the Supreme Confederation of Multiple Children of Greece

– Dimitra-Ines Aggeli, General Secretary of the Supreme Confederation of Multiple Children of Greece

And members of the National Organization of Multiple Children of Athens, the Panpiraic Union of Multiple Children and the Union of Multiple Children of Athens.

The President of PASOK-Movement of Change was accompanied by Efi Bekou, Secretary of the Social Integration and Cohesion Sector of the party.