Let the Children Come Forward – Positive Legal Inducements for Family Growth in Romania

Abstract

Historically, Romanian law provides few incentives to family growth. The most significant statutory intervention in the demographic issues of the previous century was an abortion ban, which was in effect from 1966 to 1990; however, this punitive approach had short-lived positive demographic effects.

The demographic crisis that has affected Romania since the 1990s has caused the successive political leaderships of the previous decade to use all the normative tools at their disposal to promote family growth and child-rearing. Accordingly, today, even some types of non-traditional families, such as single-parent and nonmarried heterosexual couples, which do not have any clearly defined status in Romanian private law, can avail of all the social protection benefits for their children. However, private law and tax law are much less accommodating to the situations faced by new family types. Furthermore, although medically assisted reproduction is endowed with a family law framework, it is plagued by a lack of detailed follow-up legislation. This paper presents an overview of all the positive law inducements to family growth in Romania by using a ‘black letter law’ approach. Further, it clarifies some considerations about the future changes in law, particularly those regarding the discrepancies between the very conservative vision of family law and more progressive family approach of social law. Finally, the study presents some recent family law–related European Court of Human Rights and European Court of Justice decisions pertaining to Romania, together with their statute-altering consequences.