Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-03-10-Speech-2-504"
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"en.20090310.36.2-504"2
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"We probably all know how important it is to implement all of the Barcelona objectives into everyday life. Achieving a balance between family life and work life is essential to applying the principle of equality in employment. It also brings advantages for children in terms of their healthy development.
Support for the expansion of services in the area of pre-school and out-of-school facilities, for parents’ centres and also for the operation of broad-spectrum, multi-functional, daily community centres increases accessibility, flexibility and equality in the system of public social services for families by making them competitive and improving their quality.
The situation with childcare in Slovakia is rather complicated. Public childcare facilities for the youngest children up to the age of two or three have virtually disappeared, operating only on an exceptional basis, while private facilities are not affordable for most families. Competence in this area has been transferred to local authorities who can choose whether or not to participate in running such facilities.
The situation with the hidden population of older children from three to six years old, in other words the so-called little schools, is not much better. According to EU statistical estimates, only Greece, Lithuania, Poland and Slovenia record lower attendance levels of children aged from three upwards.
The countries with social and family policies based on the spirit and letter of gender equality, such as Finland, Sweden and France, have, in recent years, recorded high levels of fertility, while the countries supporting the traditional separation of parental roles are facing low fertility and increasing levels of childlessness, for example Germany, Spain and Italy.
Many of the countries with a high proportion of women on the labour market, such as the northern countries, have, at the same time, higher birth rates and fertility levels. It is necessary for the state to provide support so that women can work and, at the same time, fulfil their longing to be mothers. The demographic situation is simply an outcome of the interest or lack of interest shown by the state in the next generation. By supporting family policies, the state will provide the essential preconditions for families. The blindness to these values which we have seen to date, together with support for the consumer lifestyle, is probably the cause of the current demographic gloom.
It is also true that pre-school facilities are extremely important for problem groups as well, such as children from socially disadvantaged groups and Roma children. It is precisely these children who pick up basic habits of hygiene in pre-school facilities and also gradually learn rules of behaviour. Let us agree that the Barcelona objectives should form part of the national policy of the state on citizens’ welfare."@en1
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