Karin Prien calls for the parental allowance cuts to be reversed

A (federal) family minister can hardly be accused of pursuing a policy that disadvantages families and children. That's exactly what happened to Karin Prien twice: when the age limit for maintenance advances for single parents was reduced and when the number of months of parental allowance was reduced from 14 to twelve or nine months if both parents did not take parental leave.

With these plans, Prien had submitted to government and budget discipline, which demanded cuts in all departments. She didn't like doing that, that was obvious. Now Prien is the first Union minister to venture out of cover for a reversal. The fuel discount has apparently loosened discipline.

Educational measures are the wrong approach

Parental allowance is the largest item in your department; Saving money here would have a noticeable effect. However, it is also the measure that has demonstrably caused an increase in the birth rate and is currently probably at least slowing down its further decline. The question is therefore justified: Where do you want to set your priorities? Simply complaining about the decline in births achieves nothing. The same applies to education policy, where Prien wants to improve early childhood support.

But it also needs to be clarified how these priorities are set. In any case, educational measures such as the forced distribution of the parenting months between both parents are not the right way; they should be eliminated either way.