FAMILY POLICY : PRESIDENCY QUESTIONS BARCELONA CHILD CARE TARGETS.

The Czech EU Presidency wants to start a debate on a "possible revision" of the Barcelona objectives, in particular the child care target, during the informal meeting of the Union's ministers for family affairs, on 4 and 5 February in Prague. The European Commission, and most likely also the Nordic member states, will back the Barcelona targets, while the Presidency has a very different EU target in mind for collective early child care. "We think this should be left to the member states themselves to decide," said Jana Rihova, the spokesperson for Czech Labour and Social Affairs Minister Petr Necas.

Nevertheless...