MPSV.CZ - Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic

Twelve points on Czech Presidency’s effort to open discussion on Barcelona Objectives

Response of the Czech Presidency to criticism from the European Parliament.

1. The Czech Presidency is not putting forward a specific amendment to the Barcelona Objectives, as has been erroneously alleged. It only seeks to launch a discussion. The reason behind this is simple. The Barcelona Objectives were approved by the European Council in 2002 without the participation of the new Member States. It is therefore logical that the Czech Presidency tries to open a discussion involving the new Member States, since there is a large spectrum of viewpoints among the individual countries.
2. The Barcelona Objectives, including the objective to place 33 per cent of children aged under 3 in collective care facilities by 2010, are not part of primary EU law, but represent a purely political commitment, since family policy does not fall under the exclusive competence of the EU and is an area where the Member States exercise their sovereign authority.
3. Most of the EU Member States do not and will not meet the Barcelona Objectives in the area of child care. The Czech Republic is one of them.
4. The Czech Presidency does not question the Objectives in the field of employment policy. However, it believes that other factors such as the freedom of the family and the interest of the child must be taken into consideration when setting these targets. Moreover, focus on quantitative aspects must not override the concern about the quality of such facilities.
5. A number of countries that joined the EU in 2004 can offer their specific experience of the developed creche system in the totalitarian era. The Czech Republic is one of them. A whole range of studies conducted at a time when almost twenty-five per cent of all children were placed in these facilities, flesh out our knowledge of the impacts of collective care. Research by paediatricians and psychologists worldwide concerning the influence of collective care cannot be neglected either. It is therefore appropriate to review these objectives in a discussion that will reflect the results of recent research but also the experience contributed by new Member States.
6. The Czech Presidency believes it is important to enhance the prestige of parenthood and to recognise unpaid home-based childcare as a socially relevant activity. Only in this way can we eradicate the stereotype that sees the woman taking care of the children as “doing nothing” and recognises only the work done by the man, “the breadwinner”.
7. The Czech Presidency builds on the principle of freedom for families. The decision on how children should be taken care of must be left with the families alone. Opting for home-based childcare should not be automatically seen as wrong.
8. The Czech Presidency respects the fact that the area of childcare remains exclusively within the competence of the Member States, in accordance with the subsidiarity principle. The Czech Presidency does not question the intentions of individual Member States to increase the number of collective care facilities; on the other hand, no Member State should be criticised for a lack of effort to fulfil these objectives.
9. It is pointless to demand an equal number of collective care facilities throughout Europe without reflecting the specific needs and wishes of the family, the demand and historical experience. For instance, even during the Communist era in the Czech Republic there were no more than 24 percent of children under the age of three placed in day care, despite the fact that the state did all to increase the number of children in day care. After the fall of Communism the preference of families changed rapidly and the number of children in day care decreased, as a result of the declining demand, to 0.5 – 2 percent of children. The very text of the Barcelona Objectives states that it is necessary to respect the demand and national customs in their fulfilment. Creating a costly collective care system without interest from parents would be completely useless. The Member States would have to search for coercive mechanisms to place children into day care at the expense of the freedom of the families (limiting parental leave, lowering the parental benefit etc).
10. The Czech Government itself supports the development of non-parental childcare in the Czech Republic. Within the framework of the so called Pro-family Package, measures to support particularly innovative types of care are being adopted. However, the Czech Government does not assume that building public state-run collective care facilities, following the example of the Communist regime, is the way to proceed. It prefers the model where families are provided with financial means directly, and thus have the possibility to decide if they want to use them for parental or non-parental care. Moreover, the subsidiarity principle is respected even on the national level and in accordance with this principle the development of day care facilities for infants and young children falls under the competence of municipalities and regions and not the state.
11. Presently, the Czech Republic especially supports also parental home childcare and the amount of its benefits (in the case of “classic” three-year care) reaches approximately the amount of the minimal wage. The Czech Republic thus fulfils, as one of the few EU Member States, the principle according to which even work in the family can be perceived as an economically relevant activity. At the same time we can point out that even the Beijing agenda creates a requirement for quantification of the real price of this care, which can be considered as an economic product.
12. The Czech Republic in no case intends to return women from their employment to the household. However, it wishes to take into consideration the problems of parents who prefer the possibility to stay at home with children under three years of age. Even these people, who will make up two thirds of the population, should the Barcelona Objectives be reached, have their own problems that cannot be ignored exclusively in favour of state aid to those who decide to place their children in day care.

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