Greens and FDP support the harsh criticism of the CEO of the German Economics Association, Monika Schnitzer, on the state of childcare in Germany.
“The criticism by Mrs. Schnitzer of the inadequate availability and reliability of childcare reflects the reality of many families” said the deputy chair of the Green Bundestag faction, Maria Klein-Schmeink, to the “World” (Monday edition). “It is unacceptable that missing childcare capacities and unreliable structures, in particular, force women to give up their professional ambitions.”
Schnitzer had criticized in the newspapers of the Funke Media Group that childcare is not reliable. Many families rely on the support of grandparents or babysitters, Schnitzer said. This makes it difficult for many parents to re-enter the workforce.
“Childcare is a central key to genuine equality” said Klein-Schmeink. “Here, it is not just the federal government, but also the states, that are responsible for creating and expanding reliable and flexible childcare offers.”
The quality of care law with four billion euros for the years 2025 and 2026 is an important step, Klein-Schmeink added. “It takes a joint effort to finally shape childcare as a comprehensive and high-quality service.”
The reliable access to various childcare offers and a high quality in early childhood education are “elementary” said Gyde Jensen, deputy chair of the FDP parliamentary group. “Early childhood education is the key to the chances that children need to be independent of their family background to be able to make their own way. And the key for parents to be able to continue their job alongside family duties” Jensen told the “World.”
The family policy spokesperson of the CDU parliamentary group, Silvia Breher, sees the quality of early childhood education as “central for the future of our society.” The childcare situation in Germany, particularly in kindergartens, is extremely strained and has deteriorated under the government of the Greens, Breher said. There was “no political will” to conduct a successful and sustainable childcare policy under Family Minister Lisa Paus, she added.
“Urgently needed investments in the future of children were left out – to the detriment of families and childcare staff” Breher criticized. Instead, it was about “follow-up decisions like the end of the specialist workforce offensive or the abolition of the federal program for language kindergartens.” “Early childhood education must finally become the top political priority again” Breher said.
“Parents have not been able to rely on a reliable childcare system for a long time” said Martin Reichardt, family policy spokesperson of the AfD parliamentary group. “We have repeatedly pointed out that all projects aimed at childcare will fail due to the shortage of skilled workers.” Despite this, the “right to full-day care in primary school age and the ‘Good Kindergarten Law’ were passed in the Bundestag. The AfD parliamentary group is instead focusing on parental choice in childcare. “It is important to support the state childcare system again and in particular to strengthen in-family childcare, for example, by a childcare allowance for parents” Reichardt said.
The chair of the Left group in the Bundestag, Heidi Reichinnek, called Schnitzer’s criticism “absolutely justified.” “We have a financing, quality, and personnel crisis in the childcare system” Reichinnek said to the “World.” “Fachkräfte and families have been complaining about these problems for years, but not much is being done.” The Left politician called for “much more money” in the childcare system to improve offers and quality of care. “Children have a right to a childcare place and early childhood education. That must be at the center of the debate” Reichinnek said.
“It’s all about a pedagogical offer, not about warehousing children so that parents can work. Full and clean is not enough.” Reichinnek also demanded a childcare summit, where all stakeholders agree on measures and their implementation. “In the long run, a re-evaluation of the costs for childcare between the federal government, states, and local authorities must take place.