Spain's 200-euro-per-child payment smells like electioneering

200 euros per child with no income cap: the election giveaway we will all pay for

The proposal to hand out 200 euros per child regardless of income level has arrived in the middle of budget negotiations. With elections next year, the political reading is immediate: a party watching its poll numbers slip is turning to public money to try to hold on to the vote. The question is who will ultimately foot the bill.

Scepticism dominates the analysis. Some see the measure as an attempt by the PSOE (Spain's Socialist Party) to buy votes with state funds. Moreover, the lack of an income filter makes it a poorly targeted benefit: it will also reach households that do not need it, which complicates its fit within fiscal discipline. If the party wins the election, critics add, it will claw the money back through taxes; if it loses, the mess will be left to the next government.

A cheque for everyone, even for those who do not need it

The absence of an income threshold turns the measure into a kind of universal child benefit. That drives up its cost and strips it of any redistributive justification. Nobody misses the irony: just as public debate insists on the need to target support, along comes a proposal that hands out money without asking questions.

The measure looks more like a tactical response than a thought-out family policy. The electoral timing gives it away. And, as usually happens in these cases, the bill is not paid by whoever makes the promise, but by whoever receives it. Time to start rowing, because the party gets paid for afterwards.