CHILD CARE : MEPS WANT MEMBER STATES TO MEET THEIR COMMITMENTS.

PositionMembers of Parliament

MEPs have expressed their fears that the Czech EU Presidency's proposal to consider child care a "fully fledged alternative to a professional career" will lead to a return to the traditional division of labour between men and women. By adopting an alternative motion for a resolution put forward by the Greens-EFA group (replacing the original report from the Women's Rights Committee) - with 358 votes in favour, 271 against and 28 abstentions - they call upon the member states to fulfil their commitments to the Barcelona goals of 2002 to introduce child care provisions for 90% of the children between three years old and the mandatory school age by 2010 and for at least 33% of the children aged three or less.

The Czech Presidency is set to debate a revision of these targets during the informal meeting of family ministers this week in Prague. The report also calls for a review of the EU's work-life balance policies and asks for the maintenance of the principle of intergenerational solidarity', which relates to child care and the responsibility for the elderly and dependent.

The Czechs say that "most EU countries do not and will not meet the Barcelona objectives concerning child care," and consider it "impossible to require that the objectives be actually implemented". Furthermore, the Presidency believes that the recognition of child care as an alternative to a professional career would be "the only way to remove the traditional stereotype that a woman taking care of her children does not do anything' and that the man being the breadwinner is the only person working".

In the Czech...

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