Federal Government
No more billion-dollar program to expand daycare centers
A carer is walking along a sidewalk with several small children. The daycare expansion program that ends this year comes from the previous government. photo
© Peter Kneffel/German Press Agency GmbH/dpa
In their coalition agreement, the SPD, Greens and FDP agreed on a program to expand daycare centers. But now that the current program is coming to an end, it looks as if there will be no new edition.
The ongoing investment program, which is intended to create 90,000 childcare places, will end in June this year. The associated funds amounting to one billion euros could only be accessed until the end of June 2024, according to the answer from the lead Federal Ministry for Family Affairs.
The family policy spokeswoman for the Union parliamentary group, Silvia Breher, sharply criticized this decision. “The traffic light revokes its own promises in the coalition agreement and parliament. It massively destroys the trust of families who rely on reliable childcare,” Breher told the “Tagesspiegel”.
In their coalition agreement, the SPD, Greens and FDP actually agreed on a further program. It says: “An investment program should be launched to further expand daycare places.” The program, which is now coming to an end, goes back to a decision by the previous government. The basis for this was the economic stimulus package to deal with the consequences of the corona pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
Family Ministry: Responsibility lies with the states
In its response, the Family Ministry points to the responsibility of the federal states. It says that day care is “according to the constitutional division of competences the responsibility of the states and is to be financed by them.” Since 2008, the federal government has launched five investment programs to finance child care totaling more than 5.4 billion euros. These funds were used to create 750,000 additional places for children before they start school.
The high demand for daycare places across Germany always causes anger and discussions. According to a Bertelsmann study from last autumn, there is a shortage of around 430,000 daycare places in Germany, despite the legal right to a childcare place.