Romanian Child Allowance Cap Considered For "Active Solidarity" - PM

"The Ministry of Labor is currently analyzing a draft law differentiating the amounts of child allowances. Our intention is not to achieve budget savings at the expense of the children, but we want to apply a principle of active solidarity and we need to support those who need financial resources," Boc said.

He added that the right to an allowance is "constitutionally recognized, but the amount is established by the state".

Romania is working on a law to cut state allowance for children coming from families with high incomes, Labor Minister Mihai Seitan said Friday, adding authorities have yet to decide on the maximum family income entitling children to state allowance.

Seitan said the Labor Ministry plans to set income caps for all types of social allowance to ensure aid only goes to people who really need it.

Seitan said the governing program states child allowance is to be increased but the Labor Ministry was allotted a strict budget to pay these allowances.

Romanian senators adopted in October 2009 a legislative initiative setting that state allowances for children would be of 5% to 25% of the minimum wage depending on their parents' wages.

According to the legal initiative, drafted by a group of liberal lawmakers, the state allowance would be higher for children whose parents have low incomes. The initiative was adopted after all parliamentary group leaders decided to back it, despite the fact that it was rejected by the Senate's labor committee.

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