Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-03-13-Speech-2-178"
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, honourable Members, the guiding and overarching principle of our Presidency’s programme in social policy is ‘seizing demographic change as an opportunity and promoting equal opportunities for all at work and in society’, for demographic change is a fact, and something of fundamental relevance to all the Member States of the EU.
It has also been demonstrated that, if we are consistent in going down the road of improving conditions for young parents, of developing childcare and early-years education, of developing – hand in hand with the business sector – systematically family-friendly work structures, then we will be having a positive effect on the 2020-2030 period, the very period that is set to be particularly problematic in economic and demographic terms.
The issue of work/family compatibility presents challenges, however, not only to the state, but also to businesses. Children are our future; they are the workers, the consumers and the parents of tomorrow. Consideration of family concerns must become part of entrepreneurial strategy and of business culture; flexible working hours and models of part-time working – for both mothers and fathers – must become standard everywhere, and in this respect it would be helpful if it were to dawn on businesses that consideration of family concerns pays off in business terms, for mothers and fathers cannot give themselves completely to their work unless they know that their children are being looked after properly during the day.
Family-friendly attitudes at work also benefit the state and the social security agencies, for the more mothers and fathers are enabled to go out and earn money, the more taxes and social security contributions get paid.
I am keen, though, despite all this talk about the state and the economy, not to lose sight of the children, on whose well-being Europe ought to focus. Children need high-quality facilities in order to learn cognitive and social skills. Good and stimulating daycare for children is an important, necessary and valuable supplement to their upbringing in the family context, and that is what parents want. We must not be content with ‘care lite’.
Another reason why it is so important is that, in many states, the reality of the situation is that not all children’s interests are best fostered within the family, and that many children are growing up without siblings. Such children find in the crèche and the daycare provider a safe place, stable relationships and encouragement from various quarters to learn language and other skills. Studies all around the world have shown that children benefit from being supported and taught in a daycare facility or by a daytime carer.
I am sure that we will, with your support, benefit from new impetus in the areas I have named and that we have set in motion an important debate in the European Union.
We can, however, reverse this demographic trend by working towards the right conditions under which people can actually have the number of children that they want, but one essential condition for people to be able to earn a living is the compatibility of family and work.
The return to work after taking a break to have a family must be facilitated just as much as parallel working and childrearing for both parents, for it has been shown by a European comparative study that countries with a well-developed range of childcare options have overall a higher percentage of women going out to work, particularly where those women are the mothers of more than one child in need of care.
There is also a particularly low birth rate where relatively few women go out to work, while highly-qualified women delay starting a family for a long time or do without children altogether. Whilst the average hours worked by men increases in line with the number of children they have, women who are also mothers reduce the number of hours they work, and that is why we, at Member State level, must endeavour to arrange things so that equality for women and men at work may improve and to get the conditions for them right.
It is because there is such a great need for action in this area that the German Presidency is the first since 2002 to make childcare one of its priorities, and one important step towards the improved provision of childcare places was taken as long ago as 2002, when the Heads of State and Government, at the Barcelona European Council, resolved that the Member States would have to achieve a minimum provision level by 2010, with childcare available for at least 90% of children between the age of three and the age at which they are required to begin school, and for at least one-third of all children under the age of three years. This target was, in 2003, incorporated into the European Employment Strategy and reiterated in the Integrated Guidelines for Growth and Employment (2005-2008).
There are countries in which these quotas for provision have already been exceeded, in some cases by a considerable degree; for example, some seven Member States have achieved or exceeded the 33% quota set for childcare services for children under the age of three years, and it is already apparent not only that the other states are lagging behind, but also that the level of provision in some of them is blatantly low. The same can be said for the proportion of Member States that exceed or fail to meet the Barcelona target of 90% for children between three and school entry age.
What that means is that many Member States have to make much more of an effort in order to achieve the targets set at Barcelona. The 2006/2007 Joint Employment Report, which the Council adopted on 22 February – just a few weeks ago – enlarges on this point and is unambiguously critical of the slow progress where childcare is concerned. The lack of progress being made in child care could well have adverse effects on the attempts to raise the average percentage of women in work in the EU to at least 60%, which is another shared goal under the European Employment Strategy.
This means that it is of the utmost importance that the European Council on 8/9 March confirmed the European Alliance for Families, which will inject renewed impetus into the achievement of the agreed goals for childcare and women in the workplace, and will also be the subject of discussion at the EPSCO Council on 30 May of this year.
The European Alliance for Families helps to improve family-friendly living conditions in the European Union, and will create a platform for the exchange of opinions and information between the Member States. It is closely involved with the actual enforcement of equality, for improved balance of work and family life helps to improve equality of opportunity in the world of work."@en1
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