Every child will be offered 130 days of free childcare, according to the congress texts of Vooruit, and parents must accept that offer. “This before the child is 2.5 years old. That requires a sufficient supply of quality. This is how we work on equal opportunities.”
But that is future music. Because at the moment childcare is cracking. Shortages of space, staff loss, crèches that have to close, you name it. That is why the socialists first want to invest heavily. Needs a lot more staff. There must be room for every child and it must be affordable. If that is successful, Vooruit assumes that almost everyone will entrust their little one to a nursery. Just like almost everyone sends their little one to kindergarten. Only if it turns out that it was not successful even then, an obligation comes into the picture.
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Crucial
“It’s about giving all children more opportunities,” says chairman Conner Rousseau. “Research shows that the first six years are crucial in a child’s development. So you have to intervene there. The whole society will benefit from this. More equal opportunities mean better health later on and less unemployment. But the best interests of the child must be central to the policy. Instead of saving as the current Flemish government is doing, we want to invest again.”
Conner Rousseau. — © BELGA
All in all, he wants to release 2 billion euros to help childcare and education get back on track. Because he also wants to keep going after the crèche. For example, he wants to introduce compulsory schooling from the age of three, so that every child goes to kindergarten. The aim is that all children in Flanders learn decent Dutch. “It is vital to pull them out of poverty,” says Rousseau. “The parents also have to come along. I hear stories from people who make do with Google Translate at parent contact or in the hospital. That really has to come out. We offer them language lessons.”
Taxing inheritance differently
The question remains where he wants to get the money to realize all his ambitions. A billion euros must come from a thorough reform of the taxes on inheritances. “Anyone who inherits a simple house pays blue. Anyone who inherits a billion-dollar company now pays nothing,” he says. He wants one tax-free sum of up to 250,000 euros. Anything above that is taxed at a progressively higher rate.
Another billion euros must come from reforms. Directions can only be offered at a school if there are at least 10 students per class. In this way, the socialists want to avoid that a teacher is presented with classes that are too small. That should yield hundreds of millions of euros.
The rest must come from child benefit reform. Everyone receives the same basic amount per child. But only for people with special needs it will be indexed and there will be supplements. It will also continue to run until 23 years instead of 25 years now. “In return, middle-class parents also get better services,” says Rousseau. “Think of free hot meals at school, cheaper childcare, a maximum bill in education.”
He dismisses the fact that he intervenes in such a drastic way. “Flanders spends 4 billion euros on child benefits every year, but that has not led to a decrease in child poverty. We have been standing still for more than ten years. And that costs society as a whole.”