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Spanish Labor Minister Yolanda Díaz has proposed a scheme to tackle social inequality that involves giving every young person in the country 20.000 euros, which, when they turn 18, they can spend on education, training or entrepreneurial ventures. The opposition, on the other hand, reminds us of the high rate of unemployment and poor families who "barely last until the end of the month".
According to the minister's platform, which announced the strategy before the extraordinary general elections in Spain, which will be held on July 23, the initiative to solve social inequality would cost 10 billion euros, which would be collected by taxing the rich. As stated, the goal is to guarantee equal opportunities for everyone, regardless of family background or earnings.
The payments, which would start when young people turn 18 and last until they are 23, would be accompanied by administrative support to help people study, train or start their own businesses, the Guardian reported.
"It's about young people having a future and giving them the opportunity to study or start a job, without it depending on their surname or the family they come from," said Diaz on Wednesday at a gathering of foreign correspondents in Madrid.
The road to dreams or the election campaign
She pointed out that this strategy is called "universal heritage" and that it is intended to be available to all young Spaniards, regardless of their economic circumstances, and that it is intended to be financed by taxation of people who earn more than three million euros per year. On the minister's platform, it is estimated that this would amount to 0,8 percent of Spain's GDP.
Minister Diaz, who grew up in a communist family, said that she herself could not follow her dreams of becoming an employment inspector because she did not have enough money to spend years studying, as she comes from a working-class background. Her proposal met with the disapproval of both the ruling coalition and the opposition.
The opposition reminds us of the problems of the poor
Nadija Calvinho, the economy minister in the socialist-led coalition government, questioned how the policy would work in practice. "Anyone who proposes giving subsidies or grants without any restrictions when it comes to income levels or targets should explain how it will be financed, because we will have to continue with a responsible fiscal policy in the coming years," Calvino said.
The opposition conservative People's Party (PP), which leads in pre-election polls but is expected to have to rely on the support of the far-right Vox party if it wins, was even harsher.
The PP spokesman accused Diazova of making a mistake in priorities and suggested the government to focus on other problems in a country where, as he said, "27 percent of the population is at risk of social exclusion, where the unemployment rate is the highest in Europe, where families cannot to last until the end of the month and where the self-employed struggle to survive".
ZS/Guardian
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