NES BiH proposes: Mothers with four or more children to be provided with regular monthly income

(Patria) - The caucus of the National European Alliance (NES) BiH in the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina has submitted a Draft Law on the Rights of Mothers with four or more children to the parliamentary procedure.

This law establishes the right of mothers with four or more children, the conditions and procedure for exercising the right, financing, supervision, and other issues significant for the realization of the rights of mothers with four or more children in the Federation of BiH.

The Draft Law stipulates that a mother who gives birth to four or more children has the right to regular monthly income. If she is not employed, she has the right to income in the amount of 50 percent of the average salary in the FBiH, while a mother who gives birth to four children and is employed has the right to monthly income in the amount of 25 percent of the average salary in the Federation.

Article 4 relates to pensionable service and states that for mothers who are not employed, each year of the child's age counts as six months of pensionable service. For mothers who are employed, for each year of the child's age, their pensionable service is increased by one month and 15 days, based on their request submitted to the employer.

The law also regulates the right to a pension, meaning a mother with four or more children has the right to a pension after reaching the legal age of life or after reaching the years of pensionable service established by the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance of the Federation of BiH and this law.

As explained in the Draft Law, statistical data indicate that fewer children are born each year and that the biological substance of the population is very endangered. Therefore, it is necessary to adopt a law that will encourage childbirth and thus ensure a positive birth rate in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In this way, a healthy and much-needed birth policy should be pursued. Since this is an extremely important issue for the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, all institutions and all segments of the population must be involved and help implement the goals of this law.

The Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Policy will decide on the rights established by this law, based on the submitted request, and the second-instance body that will decide on appeals against decisions will be the Federal Ministry of Justice.

The total number of families with four children in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to the 2013 census, is 10,546, and the number of families with five or more children is 3,725. This means that 14,271 families would use this right.

The total monthly amount for the payment of these rights would be around 10,000,000 KM. To secure financial resources for the implementation of this law, it is proposed to increase excise taxes on alcoholic beverages and tobacco products, tax cars whose value exceeds 50,000 KM, tax property (apartments, houses, and business premises) that represent a surplus beyond ensuring normal living and housing conditions, tax unused and uncultivated land, and introduce differentiated tax rates on salaries above the average salary in the Federation, according to the statement from the National European Alliance (NES) BiH.