Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-03-13-Speech-2-181"
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"en.20070313.20.2-181"2
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"Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, as has just been said, we have ambitious targets from the Barcelona Summit when it comes to the development of childcare. A number of countries have achieved these already. Other countries are still a fair way from doing so, which is an unsatisfactory state of affairs. Why is child care important, then? It is important for families with a view to their being able to combine family life and working life. It is important in terms of gender equality because it has traditionally been women who have had to accept responsibility for childcare and so have not entered the labour market. It is important for children to have access to high-quality childcare as an important stage in their progress towards, for example, school and the adult world.
It is also important for employment and growth as, if we look at those countries that have made good progress in developing childcare, they also have high levels of employment, including women’s employment, and thus higher growth too. Looking at demographic development, we see the need to have women - indeed, everyone – in the labour market.
The method we have is that of best practice. Many of the decisions are taken in the Member States, at local and regional levels. I have to say, however, how satisfactory it is that the debate has now been extended. I am following, for example, the debate in Germany, which is extremely lively in a way that it has not been in the past. It is important to have this ongoing debate in our Member States and for us to see the need for child care so that this development might get under way.
I wish to thank the German Presidency for having invited me, in my capacity as draftsman of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, to the informal meeting taking place in May, when these issues are to be discussed. I am pleased to accept the invitation. We hope that we can make some headway in developing child care, for the sake not only of children and families but also of employment."@en1
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