International Day of Families marked in Moldova

Chisinau, 15 May /MOLDPRES/ - The International Day of Families is marked in the European Union and in Moldova. On this occasion, more officials, among whom Prime Minister Pavel Filip and Parliament Speaker Andrian Candu, came up with congratulatory messages to citizens and posted photos with their families on social networks.   

PM Pavel Filip wrote a message for citizens, in which he specified that “each family from the country is important” for the institution he leads.   

“We want happy families here, at home. Namely this thing motivates us to create better paid jobs, extend access to dwellings for young families, increase allocations for children and allowances at birth, take care more of grandparents. I know that we still have much to do and therefore, we are always looking for new possibilities to offer a decent living to the families of the country,” Filip said.

Speaker Andrian Candu posted a message, which reads that “the nicest and happiest moments are the ones spent in family.” “I am happy and fulfilled,” Candu said.

Health Labour and Social Protection Minister Svetlana Cebotari, in a press release, said that, in the last years, the authorities had paid “an increased attention to the development of policies of promoting the birthrate, protection of family, children, young people, elderly persons, as well as the support of families both in Moldova and abroad.”  

“In this respect, starting from January 2018, we increased the child-birth allowance, which stands at 5,645 lei, and the monthly allowances for children from multiple births. We also worked out and promoted a regulation on the work of social crèches, where children aged from four months till three years will be cared; in this way, socially vulnerable or low-income families will be able to continue the labour activity. Also this year, all children placed in alternative services of family-type care will receive daily allowances on the occasion of various holidays,” Cebotari said.     

The health minister noted that the involvement of both parents was necessary for a  happy family. “Beginning with 2017, fathers have been benefiting from paternity leaves in the first 56 days after the birth of the child, which are paid at the level of 100 per cent of their monthly income. At the same time, we initiated and elaborated policies of backing families, providing protection and safety to families, especially the vulnerable ones. Through the Social Benefit programme, in 2017 year alone, about 90,757 families enjoyed social benefit worth 900 lei on average. Starting from 2018, the minimum guaranteed monthly income, used to calculate the right to social benefit and which stands at 1,025 lei, was indexed,” Cebotari said.    

Data by the Registrar’s Office shows that, last year, about 20,000 pairs married, by almost ten per cent less than in the years before. The same data shows that, in 2017, almost 9,000 families divorced.  

The International Day of Families is annually marked on 15 May. It was established by the UN General Assembly on 20 September 1993, based on the Resolution 47/237. The holiday represents an opportunity to enhance the degree of awareness of problems in the family, as well as social, economic and demographic processes which affect the family.   

(Reporter A. Zara, editor A. Raileanu)