Greece
|
|||||||||||||||||
Introduction and OverviewExperts differ regarding the nature of family policy in Greece. One scholar states that "Greece has never had an explicit family policy"(1) while another says that Greece has an explicit family policy but most family policy in Greece is implicit(2). Greece has a long history of legislative attention to family issues. Protection of the family and marriage, care for large families, responsibility for children and youth, care for widows and orphans of war, are all part of the early Greek constitution established in the 1920s. The post-civil war constitution established in 1975 added to the above governmental responsibilities: maternity protection, child protection, protection of the aged, the handicapped, the poor -- and health care for all.. A new family law was enacted in 1983 that stressed the equality of the sexes, the protection of children and the the family, as well as the secularization of marriage. Population policy has been --and continues to be --a major component of family policy and in recent years the reconciliation of work and family life is mentioned but not significantly addressed. Over time, Greek family policy has come to include measures that provide economic aid to families with children (allowances, subsidies, tax exemptions, and services). However, the main characteristics of Greek family policy is its fragmentary and categorical nature and its stress on selective policies, on targeting policies on the poor and disadvantaged. A combination of far more extensive higher education for women, significantly higher rates of labor force participation by women, the growing vulnerability of single-earner families (with only a slight increase in single-parent families since out-of -wedlock births are negligible and divorce rates are still very low) and urbanization, have been correlated with much lower fertility rates (1.4 in 1998) -- and together have led to some slight growth in family policy responses. Unemployment and high poverty rates in comparative terms have also created problems; and earlier high rates of emigration have resulted in an even more rapidly aging society than in much of the EU. Greek social and family policy scholars stress that "familism" has always been a core component of Greek family policy, as it has been in the other Mediterranean countries (Italy, Spain, Portugal). As one expert states: "Greek social policy has always relied on the family for welfare services to its members"(3) Another concurs, stating : "The supportive role of the family counterblances the state's inability to satisfy social needs. The role of women is critical to the care of younger, older, and disabled family members"(4). Thus, the traditional family continues in Greece and both nuclear family and kin network are key elements in the society. But changes are occurring; and given what is occurring to the family, the traditional family caregivers, women, are no longer as readily available. The essence of family life is changing, and policies will have to respond, but they have not as yet. Thus, there is tension between traditionalism and familism on the one hand, and modernism and the pressure for policy responses on the others. The big gap in resolving the tension is the lagging development of early childhood care and education services.
|
|||||||||||||||||
HighlightsClick here to view or print country highlights in pdf format. |
|||||||||||||||||
Government AgenciesThe Ministry of Social Assistance is the government agency with primary responsibility for the most vulnerable: orphans, handicapped, and war refugees . The Ministry of Health and Welfare has primary responsibility for health services. The Ministries of Welfare and Interior share responsibility at the national level for early childhood care and the Ministry of Education has responsibility for early childhood education. The Ministry of Labor and Social Security has primary responsibility for social insurance benefits and for family allowances while the Ministry of Finance handles the tax benefits. The Social Insurance Institute administers benefits through local offices. Local authorities have responsibility for preschools, child care services, and social services for the elderly.
|
|||||||||||||||||
Demographic and Other Social TrendsGreece has a population of 10.5 million people (1997) of which 16 percent are elderly (aged 65 and above) a little above the EU average, and 17 percent are children under age 15, below the EU average -- and way below the OECD average. It has the largest average household in the EU. Its fertility rate has been declining steadily and is now among the lowest in Europe, at 1.3. Most children are born to married parents. Divorce is infrequent and the rate of our-of-wedlock births is negligible. Its unemployment rate is at the EU average but its female unemployment rate is far above the average. Female labor force participation is far lower than the EU average and although the rates are rising, they continue to lag significantly behind most other EU countries. A significant part of women's paid employment goes on in the underground economy, at low wages, with no social benefits. Despite some changes, women still follow largely traditional roles. Women who work before marriage or childbirth leave work soon after and never return. There is little part-time work in Greece and little support for flexibility at the workplace, thus women's ability to reconcile work and family life is severely limited.
|
|||||||||||||||||
Social ProtectionGreece, like the other southern European countries, in particular Italy, Portugal, and Spain, is similar to several other "Bismarckian" western European countries such as Germany and Austria in that it has a contributory social insurance, social protection system. However, unlike these latter continental countries and more like the other Mediterranean countries, the system is thin and meager, a function of more limited economic development. Thus, some scholars argue that Greece, like Spain, Portugal and Italy (to a lesser extent) constitute a Latin Rim model of a welfare state. And like the other southern European countries, the system is heavily weighted towards old age pensions and disability (invalidity) benefits -- and health care. "[T]he scope of protection of the Greek social protection system is not universalistic but categorical and work focused. The bulk of income transfers is traditionally absorbed by old age pensions"(5). Unlike most other EU countries family allowances are contingent on employment and linked to income and to the ordinal position of the child. In addition, and in contrast to the other 'core' countries following the same model, the Greek welfare system lacks any kind of universal minimum income support scheme for non-contributory benefits and offers the least protection among the EU countries. Only recently has it established a means-tested minimum old age pension. Along with Spain and Portugal, Greece is a laggard in social protection development and spending, despite a significant increase during the 1980s and 1990s. A scholar of Greek social policy argues that the lag is due to the relative economic underdevelopment of these countries and the correlation between low social spending and low GDP. Its per capita GDP is the lowest in the EU. Its social expenditures in 1996 were 23 percent of GDP, in contrast to the EU average of 28 percent (up from 1992 when social spending constituted 18 percent of GDP as compared with 26 percent for the EU average). Its per capita social expenditure ranked with Portugal at the bottom of the EU group but the share that went to family benefits (8 percent) was at the EU average. It has a discretionary and local social assistance program. The National Health Service and Family Allowances are financed by the state. The poverty rate is high, and the most vulnerable groups are the elderly, lone others, large families, and those living in rural areas. According to a Unicef report, child poverty rates in Greece in the late 1990s were 12.6 percent, using the standard comparative measure of poverty -- income less that 50 percent of the national median(6).
|
|||||||||||||||||
Child, Youth and Family Policy RegimesMaternity, Paternity, Parental, and Family Leaves (7)Maternity benefits include a birth grant and a maternity allowance. The birth grant is a flat rate sum paid on the birth of a child to a parent who has worked at least 50 days in the last calendar year which ended three months before birth. Maternity leave is a mandatory, 16 week, paid leave for employed mothers. Half the leave must be taken before expected birth and half after. It was first enacted in 1981 and has been expanded several times since then. While on leave, working mothers who have worked for at least 200 days in last two years prior to birth, receive a cash benefit (maternity allowance) from the social security agency, that replaces 70 percent of their wages. Women who do not qualify for the maternity allowance (because they have worked a shorter period) may qualify for a means-tested maternity assistance cash benefit. There is a one-day paid paternity leave for men working in the private sector. Parental leave, the result of an EU directive, is an unpaid leave for either parent of 3.5 months for each at the time of birth or adoption (and double that for a single parent). The leave can be used until the child is three and a half. An additional paid parental leave (or a family leave) is provided for a working parent to care for an ill child under age 16, at home. A parent is entitled to 6 days a year of fully paid leave if there is one child in the family. 8 days for 2, and 10 days for 3 or more children. Still another fully paid family leave exists, for up to 4 days a year, for a working parent to visit a child's school.
|
|||||||||||||||||
Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) (8)Compulsory school begins at age 6. There are two systems of publicly-funded early childhood education and care systems for children under age 6 -- social welfare and education -- and they overlap for children aged 3 1/2 to 6. The Ministry of Social Welfare and the Ministry of Interior share administrative responsibility for the care services at the national level. Since 1995, the local authorities have primary responsibility for operating centers, and charge income-related fees. Within this system are the full day, year-round programs for child under age 2 1/2 as well as those aged 2 1/2 to 6. Within the education system, there are free and voluntary preschool programs provided for children aged 3 1/2 to 6, covering the school day and year, for 4 hours each morning, and administered and operated under local authority education auspices. There is very little in the way of after school programs for primary school-aged children and formal family day care is only just beginning to be developed. A Parliamentary Committee report on demographic problems published in 1994, concluded that the lack of ECEC programs is the major factor in the Greek fertility decline. The major problems of ECEC are described as follows:
Coverage estimates vary but the range in estimates is between 3- 11 percent for the under 3s and about 70 percent for the 3 1/2-6 year olds, largely in part-day programs(9). Relative care still is the primary source of care for children with working mothers, especially grandmothers. A pilot project has been launched to extend the hours of the preschools and primary schools to cover a full workday.
|
|||||||||||||||||
Family AllowancesGreece has an enormously complicated system of categorical family allowances, cash benefits, targeted on different family needs. Family allowances are linked to the presence and ordinal position of children in the family and are contingent on parents employment status. They vary substantially depending on whether parents are employed in the public or the private sector. As of 1999, the basic benefit is no longer income-tested and the benefit level has been significantly raised. The benefits are provided at a very low level and there are multiple types. There is, for example, a universal allowance for families with four or more children, up to age 23. There is an allowance for families with three or more children, up to age 6. There is a means-tested allowance for orphans and for half-orphans (children in lone-parent families.), another for large families (those with 3 or more children up to age 19 or 24 if in school), and still another for lone-parent families with a child under age 4. There is a child care allowance for those with children under 18 or 22 if in school.
|
|||||||||||||||||
Child and Family Tax BenefitsThe individual is the filing unit for income taxes. Like the family benefit system, the ways in which income taxes take account of child and family obligations are very complicated. There are tax exemptions for the individual filer, for his/her spouse, dependent child, for health care, for a portion of housing costs, and 10 percent of the cost of child care for children under age 6 . Tuition fees for private school and a portion of rent, are also tax deductible.
|
|||||||||||||||||
Child SupportGiven the very low rates of divorce and unwed parenting, child support is not a significant issue. Nonetheless, a means-tested "half-orphan" allowances and a means-tested single-parent allowance are provided.
|
|||||||||||||||||
Other Child Conditioned Income TransfersOld Age Pensioners and the disabled are entitled to pension supplements for children (20 percent for first child, 15 percent for second, and 10 percent for third). Children are entitled to Survivor's Benefits under Old Age Insurance. A child, if a full orphan under age 18, or under 24 if a student, or at any age if disabled) is entitled to 60 percent of the full pension, or 20 percent if a half-orphan. Medical benefits are the same for dependents as for the insured worker. A child of a worker receiving worker's compensation is entitled to a benefit equal to a minimum wage.
|
|||||||||||||||||
Child and Adolescent HealthGreece has a national health service. In addition, since 1952 there has been a system of "Mother-Infant Centers", under the auspices of local government, that provide pre- and post-natal care, well-baby care, adoption and foster care services.
|
|||||||||||||||||
Housing BenefitsGreece provides several types of housing subsidies including the exemption of a portion of rent from taxable income, and subsidies for the purchase of housing and/or for its repair (e.g. low interest, long-term loans).
|
|||||||||||||||||
YouthCivil servants and some others in private employment receive as a fringe benefit, subsidized summer camp (one or two weeks) for their children aged 6-16. There are also, increasingly, summer school programs carried out by the local authorities. Click here to view in pdf format a table on the Ages at which children are legally entitled to carry out a series of acts in the European Union.See Youth Policies section for definition of terms used.
|
|||||||||||||||||
Reconciliation of Work and Family LifeThis is a growing theme in public discussion, but no real attention has been paid to instituting special measures as a matter of public policy.
|
|||||||||||||||||
ReferencesAliprani, L. "Family Change and Family Policies in Greece". Forthcoming. European Commission,. Care in Europe. Brussels, Belgium, 1998. Katrougolos, George. "The Greek Welfare State", Journal of European Social Policy, Vol. 6, No. 1, 1996. Moss, Peter. A Review of Services for Young Children in the European Union, 1990-1995. Brussels, Belgium, 1996. Moussourorou, L. "Family Policy in Greece: Traditional and Modern Patterns", European Observatory on National Family Policies, Developments in National Family Policies, 1995; and 1996.
|
|||||||||||||||||
Notes
|
|||||||||||||||||
ContactsMinistry of Labor and Social Security
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|
