Švaljek on Bandić’s 5250 kuna for ‘parent caregivers’: It may turn out that the city budget cannot bear this

“Mayor Bandić has confirmed with this new move that he has not been truthful until now when he claimed that the decision made was intended for mother caregivers to receive assistance of 5700 kuna in gross, not net amount. He is now trying to rectify the damage caused by misleading mothers, or parents, and is doing so at the expense of the city budget.

The measure he is now proposing is extremely expensive and it may soon turn out that the city budget cannot bear it. With a net amount of assistance of 5250 kuna, and assuming that about 1000 parents will use the measure, a total of over 92 million kuna would need to be allocated for this measure in the Zagreb budget. (Currently, there is no official data on the number of users of the measure, and the number of 1000 has been reported by the media.)

The amount of around one hundred million kuna exceeds one-tenth of the expenses for the regular operations of kindergartens and corresponds to the amount of expenses for materials and energy in kindergartens. If we know that kindergartens continuously save on consumables, toys, and equipment, it is clear that instead of increasing standards in kindergartens, the city authorities have chosen a populist measure of questionable purpose.

Namely, firstly, the Mayor of Zagreb takes it upon himself to conduct demographic policy, which should be led by the authorities at the central state level to mitigate regional disparities in development and the severity of depopulation problems. Secondly, the practices of European countries with demographic policy measures show that countries with low total fertility rates have successfully dealt with this by primarily investing in support institutions (nurseries and kindergartens), thereby strengthening citizens’ belief that their children will be well cared for while they work. Thirdly, the measure is obviously poorly prepared, and its fiscal effects have not been considered at all. The city budget will not be able to bear the cost of implementing this measure without jeopardizing the functioning of preschool education institutions or any other city system. This will lead to the abolition of the measure, and thus to dramatic consequences for parents who used it and left their jobs encouraged by the measure,” concludes Sandra Švaljek.