Brussels, 27th November 2024
FAFCE President, Vincenzo Bassi, explains Italy’s policy called the Single and Universal Allowance for Children. In a video in Italian on FAFCE’s YouTube channel, President Bassi outlines that Italy’s Single and Universal Allowance for Children (Assegno Unico e Universale per i Figli), which guarantees support for all family units with dependent children, is granted based on the family unit’s means as assessed through the ISEE (equivalent economic situation indicator). It is paid by the INPS (Italian National Social Insurance Agency).
In relation to this allowance, the Commission has referred Italy for discrimination on the single allowance for foreign workers. According to the Commission, parenthood (motherhood and fatherhood) should be relevant only in the context of the free movement of workers.
Therefore the Single and Universal Allowance for Children should be considered as a measure not for supporting families (parents and children), but for supporting the workers who could be parents. In other words, parenthood is considered a quality not of the person but of the worker.
In this way, for starters, the exclusive competence of the member state is significantly reduced and does not take into account effective demographic policy, and also, the Commission risks to impose a very dangerous and ideological view concerning the human being as persons, who exist and have a function of general relevance only if they are workers.
Watch the video here.
