1) Nurseries: 3 out of 4 kids are left out

In 2002, European  executives during the Barcelona Summit decided to guarantee access to kindergartens to at least the 33% of children under the age of 3, within 2010. At the end of the first decade of the new millennium, what are the results? Few places available, difficulties to access, financial disparities, endless waiting lists and the covered demand amounts to hardly the 26%, far below the expected goals.  For European families to send their children,  who are aged less than 3 years, to nurseries  is  a real nightmare. According to the last Eurostat data, the level of socio-educational assistance is  very different from one country to another.  The highest percentages referring to the access to a crèche are recorded in Denmark (73%), Netherlands (45%) and Sweden (44%). A result that shows again how the social model of Northern Europe is superior in this field.

Above the European average we find Belgium (40%), Spain (39%), United kingdom (33%), Portugal (33%) and France (31%),  while Italy (26%), Germany (18%) and Greece (10%) are recorded below it . The negative record is assigned to Poland and Czech Republic with just  2%. This data regards the “formal” children’s day-centre facilities and does not take into consideration neither the differences between public and private centres nor the aspects linked to the quality of the services. This last chapter should be deepened given the fact that the limited admission, is often ruled by very disputable criteria.

There are still few European parents that, in order to decide to whom entrust their child during working hours, can freely choose among nurseries, nannies and grandparents. The first ones are too few, the second ones are too expensive, so the most common option is often the “third way”. A situation that causes huge social and territorial disparities. How many parents can afford paying a baby-sitter in absence of grandparents or in those regions where the lack of nurseries is critical? To give an answer to this problem means, partially, solving another one.