Debate on the motion of no confidence: an opportunity against child poverty

It is possible that the headlines of the newscasts have not opened, but a couple of weeks ago one of the most important reports that you will be able to read this year was presented in Madrid. Its titled The cost of child poverty in Spainand has been prepared by academics from six universities, under the direction of the Government High Commissioner against Child Poverty and financed by the LaCaixa Foundation.

The main argument of the report is simple: breaking the cycle of poverty from the very childhood of those who suffer it constitutes an exercise in collective intelligence. Specifically, the one that derives from avoiding the annual loss of more than 63,000 million euros. The justification for this figure lies in the accumulated labor and health costs, and is explained in detail in the investigation itself and in the analysis by Ernesto Gasco —High Commissioner— published by this same newspaper.

Child poverty affects a third of the minors in our country, it has become entrenched in time and constitutes a striking dissonance in our welfare state. The practical reasons to put an end to this scourge complement and magnify the ethical argument, which should be the starting point of any analysis: the decency and collective dignity of a society are measured by the way in which it treats its most vulnerable members; and none is more so than its children and adolescents. Of all the relevant conversations that remain buried in the henhouse of the Spanish political debate, this is surely the one that most urgently needs to be rescued.

The collective decency and dignity of a society are measured by the way in which it treats its most vulnerable members

Pedro Sánchez has taken this matter seriously since his first parliamentary days. The very creation of a High Commissioner —located, not by chance, in the La Moncloa complex— supposes a political commitment that has been supported by many other measures in the field of social benefits, the strengthening of alliances or the perception of citizenship. In this effort they have always had the complicity of the Secretary of State for Social Rights, managed by Podemos, and the support of various parliamentary groups, which demonstrates the political capital invested in it.

If this is so, why not take advantage of the opportunity of the debate on the motion of no confidence that begins this Tuesday to step on the accelerator and give a sample of the country that this government wants to build? I propose a way to do it: regularize the administrative situation of nearly 125,000 migrant children and adolescents who live in Spain without papers. As we explained in 2021 in a report published by Save de Children and Fundación porCausa, irregularity constitutes a powerful added factor of vulnerability, which determines fundamental rights such as health, education or protection. The upcoming processing of the Popular Legislative Initiative for regularization, which has been supported by 612,000 Spaniards, offers the Government a unique opportunity to take this step, which could be announced in the debate these days.

The most transformative public policy often implies going through a tortuous technical, administrative and budgetary process. This is not one of them. The Government could immediately, unilaterally and freely make the decision to rescue tens of thousands of boys and girls who live in our country with third-class citizenship from the administrative shadow. With this, it would not only revolutionize their perspectives in life, but it would help to build the type of society to which the vast majority of Spaniards aspire and need. I can’t think of a better argument to raise in this motion of censure.

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