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Rosemarie Hein

Huge Backlog

On the occasion of International Family Day, Rosemaire Hein, board member of the party DIE LINKE, declares:

"More initiative for kids": this is the motto in Germany for Family Day this year. But in truth the government has a huge backlog.

It is definitely creditable that many organisations are expanding their child-friendly offers, but as long as the base is missing, these offers cannot change the basic conditions.

The inequity concerning the access to education for children from deprived families or families with a migration background need to be included.

Instead of enabling the access to education and the possibility of joint-learning in daycare centres without constraint, the policy avoids the problem of legislating new childcare places.

The present law concerning the upgrading of crèches does not aim to offer enough places for every child under three years of age, but connects the place with the employment of the parents. Moreover, the places are only planned for the year 2013. Children who are born before that date will not have a legal claim.

The government is much faster at cancelling claims of families. The cut of child benefits for 26- to 27-year-olds, which became effective in 2006, will bring in about 2.4 billion Euros by the end of the year. This number does not only prove how many people really need the money but serves as proof of how dishonest the policy actually is. 2.15 billion Euros are planned to be used for new childcare places. That’s less than the sum that will be saved through the shortening of the child benefits. These "savings" will continue in the coming years. I am calling this coup from the Ministry of Finance a big cheat, carried on the backs of our children. The state enriches itself with the funds that young people should get for their job-training. Then the state pretends to be the benefactor who hands out "pocket money" for childcare in return. In reality the state is taking more than it is willing to give back.

DIE LINKE says: an extension of childcare is immediately possible, without any ifs or buts. We are taking the chance today to demand an absolute legal claim for childcare and fulltime education for children from their first year of life.