President Sergio Mattarella said
Friday that it is Constitutional obligation for the political
world to help young couples start families in a message to a
conference on reversing declining birth rates.
"The country's future depends on its ability to respond to the
(needs of) younger generations," Mattarella said in a message to
Family Minister Eugenia Maria Roccella for a conference entitled
'For a Young Europe: Demographic Transition, Environment,
Future".
"It is necessary for the institutions to be aware of this and
implement active policies that allow young couples to realize
their life plans, overcoming the difficulties of a material
nature and those regarding access to services that make the path
to parenthood difficult.
"It is a question of implementing what is dictated by the
Constitution".
Premier Giorgia Meloni has said that reversing Italy's declining
birth rate is among her government's top priorities, with the
2024 budget bill allocating 2.5 billion euros to addressing this
issue.
The budget includes measures for nurseries, tax breaks for firms
that give working mothers permanent job contracts and payment of
the social-security contributions of women who have two children
or more.
National statistics agency Istat said in December that Italy's
birth rate fell to a new record low of 393,000 in 2022, almost
7,000 fewer births than in 2021.
"The Italian birth-rate trend is serious," Roccella told the
conference.
"Inattention to this issue lasted too many years not to leave
consequences and it will take a long time to halt and then
reverse the trend.
"The decline in the number of women of childbearing age is now
too pronounced for birth rate measures to have the same effect
as they would have had when the number of young women was still
high".
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