Childbirth benefits may be increased to 600 euros after the Saeima Commission on Social and Labour Affairs conceptually supported the citizens’ initiative to raise child benefits. Our deputy, Vladimir Buzaev, has long advocated for a similar proposal in the Riga City Council, repeatedly urging his colleagues to also raise municipal benefits for newborns in Riga.
Currently, the childbirth benefit is 421.17 euros, and the child care benefit is 171 euros, and these amounts have not changed for over ten years. Therefore, the initiative lodged by the country’s residents to increase them, which gathered more than ten thousand signatures on the manabalss.lv portal, is quite understandable and timely. It was met with understanding in the Saeima commission, and it is quite possible that parliamentarians will pass a law to increase benefits this year.
At the same time, each Latvian municipality has the right to determine its own size of benefits for newborns, thereby attracting residents. In the capital, the childbirth benefit is the lowest compared to other major cities in our country. In Riga, it is only 150 euros, while in Ventspils and Jurmala, it has long been raised to 500 euros. Therefore, it is not surprising that our deputy in the Riga City Council, Vladimir Buzaev, has repeatedly proposed to increase the benefit.
In one of his speeches from the parliamentary podium, he directly stated that this benefit in the capital has not increased since 2008, which, in part, contributed to the decline in birth rates in the city. As Vladimir pointed out: “The cost of living has sharply increased over the last 15 years, and birth rates have significantly decreased. And the childbirth benefit in affluent Riga has become one of the lowest compared to other municipalities, and Riga has managed to lose the status of the most populous city in the Baltic region, which it maintained for centuries.”
According to him, increasing the amount of benefits for newborns is a direct, simple, and understandable action. “Either we want the number of Riga residents to grow, or we show that we are indifferent to this issue, and the future of the city does not interest us,” Buzayev noted. He also called on his colleagues in the council to individually support the petition on manabalss.lv and vote for his proposal to increase not only at the national level but also in Riga.
So far, his call has only been partially answered. The petition on manabalss.lv has gathered enough signatures and received support in the Saeima commission, but residents of Riga are still without an increase in benefits. Only 13 out of 60 deputies voted in favour. The ruling parties in the council decided that the current benefits are sufficient for the residents of Riga. However, as Buzayev believes, drop by drop wears away the stone, and he is confident that the childbirth benefit in the capital will be increased with this composition of the Riga City Council.”
