Since Ursula von der Leyen, federal Minister for Families, announced at the beginning of February that she wanted to treble the number of places in childcare centers, a vigorous debate on the best way to look after children – and how to pay for it –originated in Germany. Flayed by her own party's (CDU) traditionalist wing, the minister received fixed support from German employers and unions. (Ref. 070184)
On February 9, Ursula von der Leyen had offered to bring up to 750,000 (as opposed to 250,000 today) the number of palces in nurseries by 2013. The Minister had evaluated the costs of such a measure to approximately 3 billion euros to share out between the State, the Länder and local authorities. Since then, however, a side of the right wing party is accusing her to denigrate housewives (a model lauded by the right) and to value working mothers only. The Minister for Families, mother of 7 child
…Do you have information to share with us?