The Spanish government approved Friday the creation of a minimum living income to fight poverty further exacerbated by the coronavirus crisis which has exploded demand for food aid. "A new social right is born today in Spain", welcomed Pablo Iglesias, vice-president of the government and leader of the radical left party Podemos, after the council of ministers.
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100,000 families will benefit from this measure
This minimum living income has been set at 462 euros per month for an adult living alone. Families will receive 139 euros monthly for each additional person, adult or child, with a ceiling set at 1,015 euros per household. According to the government, 850,000 households will benefit from this new benefit, or 2.3 million people, 30% of whom are minors, and will receive an average of 10,070 euros per year.
This income will be compatible with others. If a person has a low salary, the State will pay him a supplement allowing him to reach the level of the minimum living income. In June, the first month of entry into force of the scheme, 100,000 families should benefit from the measure.
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The minimum living income was a promise of the coalition government formed by the socialists of Pedro Sanchez and Podemos who was "forced to accelerate its entry into force" in the face of the coronavirus crisis, said Pablo Iglesias. The brutal economic downturn brought about by containment has put hundreds of thousands of people out of work, and for the first time in their lives, many families have to line up to get food from parishes and local associations, particularly in Madrid.
Extreme poverty affects 1.6 million Spaniards
The minimum living income, which will cost three billion euros a year, aims to fight extreme poverty which affects 600,000 households or 1.6 million people in the country, according to the government. In February, the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty, Philip Alston, estimated after a mission to the country that Spain was "completely failing to fulfill its responsibilities towards people living in poverty, whose situation is now ranking among the worst in the European Union ".
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The Minister of Social Security, José Luis Escriva, explained that in Spain, the rate of extreme poverty decreases "much less" than elsewhere in Europe after transfers of public money, remaining at 9% of the population against a European average of 5.4%.