Germany: government adopts action plan to speed up the construction of nurseries and increase women’s activity rate

Families Minister says this objective is realistic.  In Germany, the well-known lack in childcare places, especially true in the former Länder, is considered as one of the major obstacles to mothers getting back to work quickly.  At a “childcare summit” in 2007, the federal State, Länder and towns agreed to create nearly 750,000 collective childcare places (daycare centers or babysitters) by 2013.  To that end, nearly €12 billion would be invested – €4 billion from the State.  Yet, 14 months before the deadline, towns and Länder are far from having kept their word.  Kristina Schröder, German Minister for Family Affairs, believes that 130,000 childcare places are missing.  The German Confederation of Trade Unions (DGB) says 260,000 places are missing.  However, Schröder says it should be possible to meet this goal as long as all stakeholders (federal State, Länder and towns) redouble their efforts.  To build childcare facilities faster and keep towns safe from an avalanche of complaints lodged in the fall by parents who don’t have a place in daycare, the Families Minister developed a ten-point action plan.  In addition to loans with reduced rates for towns, in the amount of €350 million, construction standards will temporarily be more flexible, and there will be pay supplements to boost the recruitment of babysitters, this program also provides for measures to extend corporate childcare.  Judging that these measures are not enough, Sigmar Gabriel, leader of the SDP, asked the government to call another “childcare summit” and to give up the project to introduce a new bonus for parents who decide not to use public childcare (Betreuungsgeld, see our dispatch No.  120348).  He finally warned, “This project will send two billion up in smoke, when we could have used them to build 200,000 additional places.”