The Popular Party and Junts have criticized the Minister of Youth and Childhood, Sira Rego, this Tuesday for the child poverty data in Spain, and the minister has defended herself by stating that it is a «structural» problem that Spain has been carrying for decades and has proposed universal parenting benefits as a solution.
«Child poverty in Spain is more intense, severe, and persistent. That’s why it’s more difficult to break, as it carries structural inequalities that are passed down from generation to generation. This is not an individual failure, but a collective failure of the system,» Rego emphasized on Tuesday in the Senate. «It’s not a problem of the last year and a half, but a problem that, unfortunately, we have been carrying for decades,» she insisted.
This is how the minister responded to questions from Senator Carlos Luis Boné Amela of the Popular Party and Senator Francesc Xavier Ten Costa of Junts.
In particular, Boné reproached the minister for Spain leading two rankings today that should embarrass any minimally serious government and urged Rego to «shut down her Ministry» for its «inaction and deafening silence.»
«We are, according to the latest Eurostat data, the country with the highest child poverty rate and the highest misery index in the entire European Union. More than 29% of our children live in poverty or social exclusion risk, and this is happening in 2025 with the supposed most social government in history,» he pointed out.
He also noted that «the blame for poverty» is not «on the autonomous communities, the context, or the past.» «This is happening under your direct responsibility, with you sitting in that chair leading an incompetent Ministry that neither acts, protects, nor solves,» he said, labeling her department as «fictional,» «void of content,» and a «propaganda tool.»
«ABSOLUTELY PAINFUL»
The Minister of Youth has acknowledged that «the data is absolutely painful» and has committed to «continue working with even more determination, if possible, on the State Pact to Eradicate Child Poverty, with a clear line: universal parenting benefits.»
She also defended herself by stating that «the issue of child poverty is not a problem of the last year and a half,» but a «structural» problem that Spain has been carrying for decades. «That’s why we need a structural solution that involves all administrations,» she emphasized.
Rego also mentioned the report presented last week by the European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN-ES), which stated that «overall poverty is decreasing, but child poverty persists.»
In any case, she highlighted, citing the study, «important issues» such as «without the intervention of the social policies of the State, of the progressive coalition government, poverty would be in worse figures.»
«In 2024, we prevented over 11 million people from falling into poverty. And that, despite the fact that in some places where you govern, like in Aragon, you cut 96% of the budget for the minimum income program. Or, directly, eliminated any mention of child support policies. All this, at the expense of a pact with the far right,» she stressed.
She also warned that «housing is the main economic burden for families with children in their care» and, in this sense, she praised the housing law and criticized the PP for «refusing to apply it» in the territories they govern.
«We propose tripling public investment to 7,000 million. You, tangled up in your earpieces. We propose greater transparency and public oversight. You, absorbed in your identity crisis, trying to figure out if you are more like Ayuso, Feijóo, or Abascal. In any case, we offer solutions and you offer blockage and mud,» she commented.
On the other hand, Junts Senator Francesc Xavier Ten Costa specified that he will not perform «choreographies or shows» and asked the minister «what is causing the chronicity of child poverty.» «Child poverty percentages in the Spanish State are higher today than 15 years ago, and in Catalonia, they are above the national average. It is a structural anomaly with unsustainable costs,» he lamented.
In her response, the Minister of Youth reiterated that «child poverty is a wound that obviously crosses the country for decades.»
«It is a deeply unfair issue that requires political will, commitment, and bold policies. We are not here to deny the data at all, but rather to transform it,» she added.
Rego stated that a poverty or social exclusion risk rate of 34.6% at the national level and 34.7% in Catalonia, more than one in three children, is «absolutely unacceptable.»
Ten Costa proposed that aid in Catalonia be adjusted to the cost of living because, in his opinion, «they do not go as far as in other places,» and «that the child support benefit be decoupled from the Minimum Living Income.»
FUENTE