At Monday's cabinet meeting, the last before the start of the summer holidays, President Sarkozy wished his team a "good rest" while reminding them to stay "particularly alert."

"/> At Monday's cabinet meeting, the last before the start of the summer holidays, President Sarkozy wished his team a "good rest" while reminding them to stay "particularly alert."

" />
Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

CARLA BRUNI

Working holidays for French politicians

At Monday's cabinet meeting, the last before the start of the summer holidays, President Sarkozy wished his team a "good rest" while reminding them to stay "particularly alert."

Published: 2 August 2011 08:54 CEST
Working holidays for French politicians
Remi Jouan

A spokesman for the Elysée palace, the president’s official residence, said “ministers must be available 24 hours a day. They are able to rest, but not be on holiday.”

Foreign minister Alain Juppé confirmed this, telling waiting camera crews as he left the meeting that the president had wished them “happy holidays, but stay in contact with your ministry morning, noon and night.”

Nicolas Sarkozy has also instructed his team to stay in France this year. The president himself has been criticized in the past for foreign vacations, particularly in 2007 when he took a holiday in the US with his then wife Cécilia.

While most have obeyed the order, three members of his team have dared to flout it. 

Like his British counterpart, David Cameron, the prime minister, François Fillon, will be in Tuscany in Italy. Higher education minister Laurent Wauquiez will go to Belgium. He defended his choice by saying he is “a quarter Belgian.”  

Industry minister Eric Besson was reluctant to say where he was going, writing on his Twitter account “I refuse to say where I’m going. Right to private life. Respect for those close to me.” However, newspaper France Soir reported that he would be in Tunisia with his wife’s family.

The president’s more obedient ministers will be dotted around the country, with parliamentary party leader Jean-François Copé and health and employment minister Xavier Bertrand venturing off the mainland to visit Corsica.

The president and his wife are able to enjoy the luxurious surroundings of the presidential palace at Fort Bregançon, where they have already spent several weekends this summer. They are also expected to visit his wife’s summer home in the southern resort of Cap Nègre.

For the Socialists, the summer is an important campaigning time as they gear up for primary elections in October to choose the contender for next year’s presidential election.

Former party leader, Martine Aubry, is already in Brittany where she has been photographed several times making appearances at local markets. 

Her rival François Hollande is in the south-west town of Landes with his partner Valérie Trieweiler. 

Hollande’s former wife and 2007 presidential contender, Ségolène Royal, will be in the region where she is president, Poitou-Charentes. “It will be a serious holiday as I need to read the proofs of the book I have coming out in September,” she told France Soir.

On the right, Marine Le Pen’s break in the family home of Trinité-sur-Mer in southern Brittany has already been disturbed several times as she deals with fallout from comments by party members about the recent killings in Norway.

Government ministers will all be expected back in Paris by August 24th for the next planned cabinet meeting.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

SCHOOL

How Germany plans to help working parents with guaranteed all-day care for children

Working parents often face difficulties in finding childcare for school-age children that lasts all day. But the German government has taken a huge step forward to tackle this.

Published: 13 November 2019 12:36 CET
Updated: 13 November 2019 15:08 CET
How Germany plans to help working parents with guaranteed all-day care for children
Children in after-school care in Germany. Photo: DPA

Germany’s grand coalition plans to introduce a legal right to an after-school care space for all children in primary schools. 

From 2025, the government wants to see these youngsters have the right to care that lasts until the end of the working day. A special fund totalling €2 billion has been set up to fund the initiative. 

The cash boost is earmarked for states and local authorities to invest in Germany’s 15,000 primary schools or build more premises for all-day services.

Currently, after-school care is set up in schools but spaces fill up fast and children often miss out on places, meaning parents have to work fewer hours or opt for more expensive private care.

READ ALSO: Why are parents suing for a childcare spot in Germany?

One million additional places needed

The legal changes, which will then pave the way to the actual legal entitlement to all-day places, will be initiated at a later date. Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and the CSU along with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) had previously agreed to introduce these measures by 2025 to improve the compatibility of family and career.

In an interview with German daily Die Welt this week, Family Minister Franziska Giffey said that in addition to reconciling work and family life, it was about offering children the chance to do something stimulating after school.

The SPD politician estimates that 75 percent of primary school children need an all-day place and that up to one million additional places would have to be created at the schools. 

There is a particular backlog for demand in western Germany. Eastern regions are less affected, partly because state child care was already the norm in East Germany, where the idea of working women was part of the model of socialist society. The infrastructure remained in place after reunification.

“While traditionally more than 90 percent of children in the east have the possibility of an all-day school place, in the west it is only 30 percent in some cases,” Giffey said.

READ ALSO: How a childcare crisis is leaving Berlin parents stuck at home with their kids

Family Minister Franziska Giffey visiting a Kita in Mainz on October 31st. Photo: DPA

How does after-school care work in Germany?

In Germany, before-and after-school care is typically provided by on-site ‘school clubs’ (Hort), usually only available to children attending the school in question, or at an off-site premise. 

Day care is typically organized by the individual school, and will provide services based on local demand and facilities available. It would usually close between 4 and 6pm depending on the facility.

Fees for before or after-school care are usually fairly reasonable; however this will vary depending on the facilities offered (for example if meals are given too), the number of hours and competitiveness of the region.

'Children have right to high-quality care'

The German Confederation of Trade Unions (DGB) welcomed the move to bring a legal right to all-day care for children but warned it could fail due to lack of staff. 

The 16 states must “immediately massively expand their training capacities for educators and primary school teachers”, deputy head of the DGB Elke Hannack told DPA

The legal right to full-day care is a milestone in social and educational policy, “but children and parents also have a right to a high-quality childcare place,” Hannack said. “It is therefore important that this legal right is guaranteed by well-trained specialists.”

According to calculations by the German Youth Institute (DJI), significantly higher investments than the planned €2 billion will be needed before the legal entitlement can be enforced.

In order to actually cover the expected demand for places from 2025, the institute estimates that €5 billion is needed.

They said that was because new population projections by the Federal Statistical Office show there will be a significantly higher number of primary school-age children in the coming years than expected.

The DJI puts the current operating costs for all-day care from 2025 at around €3.2 billion per year.

Germany to improve childcare in Kitas

Childcare has been receiving a boost in Germany in recent months. As the Local recently reported, Germany's 16 states are set to receive a share of about €5.5 billion from the government over the next three years for daycare centres (Kindertagesstätte or Kita for short).

They want to provide a higher quality of pre-school education for youngsters, reduce the costs of childcare for families, as well as decrease the burden on working parents.

READ ALSO: Explained: How each German state plans to improve childcare and lower Kita costs for families

Vocabulary

Primary school – (die) Grundschule

All-day care – (die) Ganztagsbetreuung

All-day care place – (der) Ganztagsplatz

Primary school children – (die) Grundschulkinder

Legal right – (der) Rechtsanspruch

Additional – zusätzlich

We're aiming to help our readers improve their German by translating vocabulary from some of our news stories. Did you find this article useful? Let us know.

SHOW COMMENTS