Conciliating professional and family life to take care of one’s children more carefully and calmly. Today’s meeting of the EU’s ministers of the family, in Paris, means to focus on these two subjects, "which are closely interrelated". The meeting is chaired by Xavier Bertrand, minister of the family in France and current president of the EU Council. The chairman explains the items on the agenda. "In the last few years, the problem of reconciling family and professional life has been at the centre of the concerns of the EU member states, especially the issue of who should take care of the children". Actually, "most women aged 25 to 55 work but keep carrying out household chores and taking care of the children. In addition, many countries are confronted by the problem of the ageing of the population". In the EU, there is no "real common family policy", as each state is responsible for that. There’s still commitment to "finding common ideas", "comparing good practices", reviewing together the population developments and employment dynamics, including "the involvement of the companies in the conciliation of maternity leaves, children’s education and professional life". (continued)
