FAMILY-FRIENDLY POLICIES

05/02/2009: Marie Panayotopoulos - Cassiotou MEP, Chairwoman of the Intergroup on Family and the Protection of Childhood of the European Parliament, presided a meeting on family policy in France, held in Strasbourg on Wednesday 4 February 2009. To this end, the Chairwoman welcomed Mr Philippe Steck, International Relations Director of the French national family allowances funds (CNAF).

"In order to contribute to the GDP (around 4.6%, allowances, housing aid and tax breaks included), French family policy should not merely be limited to the monetary aids families benefit from; it should be considered as a major policy irrigating legal fields such as family law or labour law. Family policy is implemented by the State and local collectivities but is also put into practice by one of the most important sectors of French Social Security. In this respect, family policy guarantees a balance between the respect of rights at national level and proximity actions, but also cash benefit, services and facilities. Education (classically not included within family policy) can be considered as an essential vector of family actions. Finally, one of its characteristics is an obvious social democracy in its governance, with the active participation of stakeholders such as social partners and family associations", stated Mr Steck.

The CNAF representative noted the existence of 25 different family allowances in France, concentrated around the following fields: childcare, large families, actions in favour of single-parent families, measures in order to tackle poverty (in France, 27% of children live under the poverty threshold before the allocation of family allowances, rate decreasing to 7% afterwards), personalised housing aid, reduction on transport tickets.

Mr Steck underlined that France took an active part in family policy, thus reaching a good balance between universal actions and actions targeting the underprivileged. Moreover, the cash benefit system in France puts forward, as a major partner of family policy, the 'family' field of Social Security, 60% of public spending.

The MEPs who participated in the meeting questioned the speaker on family benefits, but also on the efficiency of childcare in France. To that end, Mr Speck stressed the flexibility of family policies, the importance of giving choices to parents in order for them to decide what care is the most appropriate for their children: childcare at home by one of the two parents (49% of children under 3 years old), maternal assistance (22%), nurseries (10%), grand-parents (receiving a grant of €160) (5%), carers at home (2%), children in care (1 to 2%).

For further information:
Tel: +32-2-2847447, Fax: +32-2-2849447
E-mail: marie.panayotopoulos-cassiotou@europarl.europa.eu