“This attack was incredible! Today we forget. (…) And now Donald Tusk disguises himself as a lamb and pretends to be a pro-social politician, while the signals coming from his political group are completely contradictory” – says Elżbieta Rafalska, PiS MEP, former Minister of the Family, Labor and Social Policy, in an interview with the wPolityce.pl portal.
wPolityce.pl: A week ago, the 7th “birthday” of the Family 500 plus program was celebrated. It was dubbed PiS’s “flagship” proposal in social policy. How was the beginning? Did he complete his “task”?
Elizabeth Rafalska: The Family 500 plus childcare allowance program was definitely a breakthrough program and the basis of the family policy. But it was also the first step towards building a solidary, comprehensive social policy, which did not yet exist in Poland at that time. We have inherited from Civic Platform a completely neglected field of activity of the state. The Family 500 plus program has shown that it is possible to have a state that cares for the family, children and their well-being, that thinks about the demographic future, the population situation of the country and says that investments in human Capital is a profitable investment with a high return. And then we also said that the “500” will also be a flywheel of the Polish economy and this translated into an increase in GDP. So it was a whole new look at social and family policies, with a strong emphasis that this is not overeating, but valuing families, drawing attention to large families, the value of the family, the fact that children are important to the Polish state. Because in Poland we had a situation where Polish poverty had the face of a child, and families with many children, left to themselves, forgotten and even stigmatized for years, were the most affected by poverty. And this social justice had to be introduced, and we did.
But I wouldn’t want all social policy activities to be based solely on the Family 500 plus program, because the next steps were also extremely important – with regard to introducing the hourly rate, raising the minimum wage. And then there were the threats that there would be an increase in the shadow economy, an increase in unemployment, and it was just the opposite. We also gave people a chance to work, at rising salaries; it was material appreciation and recognition of the family.
What do you think of the kind of “embarrassment” of the opposition to this program? Because on the one hand there are discredited, even ridiculous or even contemptuous statements, but there are also attempts to compete, a race in program proposals.
Did you say “embarrassment”? This is a very delicate assessment. I believe this program has been attacked very aggressively from the start. It was said that it would demoralize Polish society, that Polish families would drink up the money, that most women would quit their jobs, and of course it was mocked that it was “profitable” to have children only for material reasons . Even one professor thought that the number of pregnancies of underage mothers would increase… This attack was unbelievable! Today we forget. Major cities have done everything they can to prevent this program from running smoothly. And now Donald Tusk disguises himself as a lamb and pretends to be a pro-social politician, when the signals coming from his political group are completely contradictory. Some PO politicians say that this is political corruption, eating up government money, which has nothing to do with reality; such family transfers are available in Germany, France and many other countries. There are also PO politicians who say it is a “margin”. What is the margin then? 4.5 million Polish families receive this benefit. What is the margin? Those people who don’t work? If so, this “margin” was greater under Civic Platform. Can someone who decides he’s raising five or six kids and can’t juggle work with household chores be a margin? This is pure nonsense, expressed by politicians who have no understanding of social policy. This is just an attack to keep underestimating the importance of this program. Because this is the main goal – not a discussion of arguments, how it has reduced poverty, what are the effects, how families are doing, but on the contrary, to say that this program has no value.
Do you believe that if PO took power, it would keep this program?
Absolutely not. He is too identified with Law and Justice to want to go through with it. Although today they are in a race for proposals, having realized how important actions for the benefit of people are, how important social policy is, they are completely unreliable in this area. It’s hard to believe what they say, even if you remember what they announced about retirement age and what they did later. So if Donald Tusk first tells women to work until the age of 67, and now the “grandmother” wants to introduce PLN 1,500, then this is also not a proposal that can be analyzed at this stage. Because I would ask, for example, do the self-employed receive this benefit? Or what will happen to the Family Care Capital and what will happen to the co-financing of day care centers in the amount of PLN 800 per child?
Will a certain credibility in the field of social policy be an important key to winning the forthcoming parliamentary elections?
I think it will be an important part, but not the only one. The social situation of the Poles – it must be frank and frank – despite inflation, or perhaps in particular, is really much better than in 2015 and that is due to many things, including this policy. We have higher middle and minimum wages, we have an excellent labor market, rising hourly wages, and finally we have an employee market, not an employer market. This is a value that we probably completely underestimate in Poland, because we are already used to it. But these days, security issues are also extremely important – both internally and externally. Because the situation with the war in Ukraine is still very unpredictable and we Poland understand very well the threat posed by Putin’s Russia. We have also shown that many crises are not terrible for our government and can respond quickly. He solved many problems that no one in politics or outside thought could happen in such an accumulated time. So I think this time there will be more elements that will decide whether to win the election, but social policy will still play a key role.
READ ALSO:
— 7th “anniversary” of the 500 Plus program. Witek and Rafalska visited a family benefiting from the benefit. ‘He lifted Polish children out of poverty’
— Prime Minister on PO promises: Each of our opponents’ “election aces” is an attempt to bid and a response to our government’s programs
— Sienkiewicz’s pathetic argument: “PiS has specialized in creating social margins.” A government spokesperson responds
– Kempa to Tusk: Should I believe in ‘grandmother’? You made grandmas work until they died. You are brutally raising our retirement age
Interviewed by Adam Kacprzak
Source: wPolityce