Spanish government to introduce new concepts of family

05-12-2022

Southern Europe

Pro-family associations in Spain are outraged about new family law, reports the Catholic News Agency. They warn that the government wants to “undo the concept of family and redefine it from its foundation.”

The law is an idea of Ione Belarra of the left-wing populist party Podemos. She currently serves as Minister of Social Rights and the 2030 Agenda. Besides the law expanding rights and economic aid for families, it also introduces 16 different family models. And that is what concerns pro-family organisations.

New family concepts

The Spanish news outlet ABC gained access to the draft dill and shared the family concepts. Some overlap each other. Here are a few family concepts to give you an impression.

Two-parent family: the classic family concept
Single-parent family: a single parent with one or more descendants
Young family: Formed by one or two people younger than 29 with their children.
Homoparental family: LGBT couples
Stepfamily: The one in which one or both members of the couple have daughters or sons from previous relationships.
Immigrant family: family in which all or part of its members has settled in the national territory from another State or territory.
Intercultural family: family unit between people who come from different cultural or ethnic backgrounds.
Family abroad: One in which one of its members holds Spanish citizenship during their residence in another country.

The Federation of Associations of Large Families of Madrid released a manifesto demanding that “the concept of family that should be promoted and advanced by the state is that of the natural family.” Thus, a family “is born from the marital union of one man and one woman, which is the union that most fosters the necessary stability for the good of the children,” the manifesto says.

Although the family models do not all contradict the classic family structure, the organisations signing the manifesto declare that “these 16 types of family or those that are added are family circumstances that in no case define what the family is.”

With this concept, “what the government is doing is to undo the concept of family and redefine it from its foundation,” the organisations signing the manifesto pointed out.

Incompehensible

The law was expected to be approved on Tuesday, but the decision has been postponed. Inone Belarra accused her coalition partner PSOE, a Socialist party, of delaying the process with “incompehensible arguments”. This reports the Spanish daily El Mundo.

According to the newspaper, sources at the Ministry of Social Rights are “concerned” about the “constant delays” that the law is experiencing, which they blame on the “socialist wing” of the government. Now, it can be approved at the beginning of December at the earliest, as both October and November have been a permanent tug-of-war between the partners to reach a definitive agreement.

It has not been the first time PSOE and Podemos have a struggle over ethical issues. Earlier this month, as CNE reported, the Spanish socialists suddenly opposed a Trans bill pushed by Podemos.