«An excellent response» to the problem of the declining birth rate and a measure to be «proud» of. That is the assessment of Guerrino Zanotti (Libera) regarding the bill on family and birth policy, debated and approved by the Grand and General Council (Consiglio Grande e Generale). Libera voted in favor, claiming credit for the leap in quality achieved through the new measures.
Zanotti acknowledged that a law alone cannot reverse the decline in births, a phenomenon rooted in the social and cultural changes of recent decades. However, he stressed, the task of politics is to create the conditions that allow motherhood and fatherhood to be experienced with fewer worries — an objective that, according to Libera, has been achieved with this measure.
The councillor pointed to the strengthening of financial support, paid leave and parental leave, the extension of paternity leave from 10 to 20 days, new protections for parents caring for sick children, and measures against the non-renewal of fixed-term contracts or dismissal linked to maternity. Additional interventions on the pension front were also included.
Zanotti did not rule out the need to keep working on other issues, starting with access to first homes, income levels and wealth distribution, but he rejected the idea that these problems diminish the scope of the law. He also cited the letter in which new and expectant mothers had asked for the bill’s swift approval as concrete recognition of the importance of the measures.
Below is his full statement.
Guerrino Zanotti (Libera): «I am notoriously not one to get overly enthusiastic about measures passed in this Chamber, in the Grand and General Council, even when they are positive acts and rules that reflect good work done. In this case, however, I did so during the general debate as well, and I reaffirm it in this vote statement: I believe this bill represents a good, indeed an excellent, response to the issue we have been debating in this Chamber and outside it for quite some time now — unfortunately not for as long as the problem itself would have required: the decline in births. We believe that the answers to a problem like the falling birth rate do not lie solely in what this Chamber is able to achieve. I nonetheless reaffirm that what we are about to approve is excellent work, because the phenomenon is also rooted in a social and cultural transformation of our society. Sixty or seventy years ago we were a rural civilization, in which the birth of a child, especially a son, represented a resource. Today, unfortunately, the birth of a child risks becoming instead a source of worry. I insist on this point: it is not through this law, or through legislation in general, that we are able to change or reverse a trend that unfortunately has deeper roots and does not concern only the issues we have addressed. We are certainly not able to reverse it on our own; however, the role that a majority and a Government must play is to provide tools and create conditions that allow motherhood and fatherhood to be experienced without the worries we have been discussing. I believe the goal we set for ourselves has been achieved with this law, which addresses several issues. It intervenes on the economic front, strengthening existing tools and creating new ones to support mothers and parents, recognizing more substantial financial benefits; it introduces paid leave, such as for children’s medical appointments; it extends paternity leave from 10 to 20 days; it strengthens parental leave, increasing the percentage of the benefit and providing a guaranteed minimum; it introduces, as we also discussed this morning, a sickness benefit covering periods when children are ill. There are also interventions on matters of principle, which we consider sacrosanct, such as the nullity of the non-renewal of a fixed-term employment contract and the nullity of a mother’s dismissal on grounds of maternity. Important measures have also been introduced on the pension front, reducing disincentives and lowering the retirement threshold. There are truly many interventions which, taken together, give a sense of what this bill represents. Then there are the criticisms — for example, the claim that the birth-rate decline is also a result of the difficulty in accessing housing. It’s true, access to a first home is a problem, and we are aware of it. I believe the Government must take further responsibility for this, because we too believe it can become an obstacle to starting a family. Income policy and wealth distribution are also important issues. However, I equally believe that this law represents a significant leap in quality, also through a change of paradigm compared to what had been done in the past. That is where the overall value of the measures envisioned by this bill lies. Could more have been included? Of course, certainly. We are not here to say that nothing else could have been done. But the very fact that there was a letter from new and expectant mothers asking for this to be done quickly, because this law mattered to them, is, I believe, already a mark of recognition for a job well done. My statement, therefore, is to declare Libera’s favorable vote and to congratulate the Secretariat, the Secretary and his staff, who worked with dedication and, I believe, to good effect. I think we should, in some way, also be proud of legislative measures like this one, because I believe they go in the right direction».
