Report from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. Barcelona objectives. The development of childcare facilities for young children in Europe with a view to sustainable and inclusive growth

The availability of high quality, affordable childcare facilities for young children from birth to compulsory school age is a priority for the European Union. These facilities include day nurseries and other daycare centres including family day-care, professional certified childminders, pre-school education or equivalent, mandatory school education and centre-based services outside school hours.

In 2002, the Barcelona European Council set objectives in this area: "Member States should remove disincentives to female labour force participation, taking into account the demand for childcare facilities and in line with national patterns of provision, to provide childcare by 2010 to at least 90% of children between 3 years old and the mandatory school age and at least 33% of children under 3 years of age".

Since then, achieving the Barcelona objectives has been at the heart of European priority setting, first in the Lisbon Strategy and subsequently in the Europe 2020 Strategy. Indeed, the ability of the Member States to significantly and sustainably increase the employment rate depends on, among other things, the opportunities men and women have to achieve a work-life balance. The availability of quality childcare facilities is crucial in this respect. Together with flexible working arrangements and the provision of a suitable system of family leave, it forms a raft of measures for achieving a work-life balance promoted at European level. It is also an essential investment in the development of children, the fight against early school leaving and against the transmission of inequalities.

Although some progress has been made since 2002, and despite the commitment of the Member States through two successive European pacts for equality between women and men, the provision of childcare facilities at European level in 2010 was still not in line with these objectives. Furthermore, the situation appeared to deteriorate in some Member States in 2011. It is necessary to reopen the debate on this deficit and its causes, while at the same time proposing solutions and policy approaches to reaching these objectives. This third European semester is a political opportunity to reaffirm the importance of childcare facilities and their contribution to the objectives of the European Union.

Against this background and as announced in the Strategy for equality between women and men 2010-2015, the aim of this document is to report on the state of play of the implementation of the Barcelona objectives in the Member States. It identifies the obstacles and challenges faced by Member States in developing their childcare facilities for young children, it highlights the need to reaffirm these objectives and serves as a reminder of the commitments the European Commission has made to supporting the Member States, and, together with the recent, additional initiatives from the Commission such as the proposal for a Directive on gender balance on company boards, it represents a real contribution from the Commission to the attainment of the Europe 2020 Strategy's objectives and the promotion of gender equality.

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)322: Follow the progress of this report through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:322:FIN

ESO: Background information: Childcare: Commission calls on Member States to do more http://www.europeansources.info/record/press-release-childcare-commission-calls-on-member-states-to-do-more/

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