Romania’s Senate voted to increase child allowances by 20%, as of January this year, Digi24 reported.

The current level of the child allowance is RON 185 (EUR 38) for children between two and eighteen years old and RON 370 (EUR 76)  for children under two.

The allowance will be indexed by the inflation rate each January starting 2022, and no other hike is provisioned in the draft bill passed by the Senators.

Last autumn, current prime minister Florin Citu - then finance minister - proposed a more generous plan to double the allowances in several stages, including two steps per year in 2021 and 2022, as an alternative to the doubling of the child allowances already passed by the lawmakers in 2019 and promulgated by president Klaus Iohannis.

The Social Democrats rejected in Parliament the emergency ordinance issued by the Government at that time to cancel the doubling of allowances in Parliament.

Still, president Klaus Iohannis asked the lawmakers to review the bill.

As the Liberals formed the new parliamentary majority, they eventually tightened the ordinance even more.

The Chamber of Deputies also needs to vote on the new version of the bill as the decision-making chamber. 

(Photo: George Oprea/ Dreamstime)

andrei@romania-insider.com