Tough love for Spanish ‘Ninis’ as parents rally against freeloading sons and daughters

SPANISH parents appear to be mounting a fightback against the ‘parasite children,’ after a series of court rulings have set a precedent that dictates that they no longer have to pay for young adults known as the ‘nini’ generation.

The moniker is derived from the phrase “ni estudia ni trabaja”, which means neither studying nor working, referring to young adults who continue sponging off their parents well into their twenties or even thirties, since under current Spanish law they are not entitled to benefits unless they have previously been in work for at least six months.

This bankrolling of indolent offspring has increased exponentially during the last eight years, with the ongoing recession leading to rampant youth unemployment, but in many cases this simply presents them with an ideal excuse to live off their parents without making any efforts to be independent.

A whopping eight per cent of Spaniards under the age of thirty still live with their parents, and are apparently happy to do so, as youth unemployment continues to sit above forty-five per cent, the second highest in Europe.

There may be a shake-up on the cards, however, as several divorced parents have just won the legal right to cease maintenance of their passive progeny.

In one case, the court of Pontevedra, Galicia, has upheld a divorced dad’s case to stop giving money to his 24-year-old son, who has worked a total of forty days since leaving school in 2009, with the judge ruling that the young man is completely healthy and old enough to support himself, and calling him ‘listless’ as the verdict was delivered.

Meanwhile, in Cataluña, a single father won the right to provide a reduced monthly allowance for his 18-year-old boy who “did nothing to help his mother and only did occasional jobs so he could finance his whims,” making “no attempts to finish his studies or find work.”

In another case, the court criticised the ‘opportunistic’ strategy of a youngster who, after learning that his father was seeking to stop paying for him, enrolled in a course he had no intention of attending in order to make it appear that he was studying.

Written by

John Smith

Married to Ophelia in Gibraltar in 1978, John has spent much of his life travelling on security print and minting business and visited every continent except Antarctica. Having retired several years ago, the couple moved to their house in Estepona and John became a regular news writer for the EWN Media Group taking particular interest in Finance, Gibraltar and Costa del Sol Social Scene. Currently he is acting as Editorial Consultant for the paper helping to shape its future development. Share your story with us by emailing newsdesk@euroweeklynews.com, by calling +34 951 38 61 61 or by messaging our Facebook page www.facebook.com/EuroWeeklyNews

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