The European social partners will not open talks aimed at improving the work-life balance of working parents. That would appear to be the likely scenario on 30 September following the second consultation phase. As a result, the European Commission will work on a fresh proposal to be brought forward “for the start of 2017”.
When it withdrew its initiative on maternity leave, the Commission announced its intention to present a new legislative proposal to help workers and employees find a satisfactory balance between their working and their family lives (see EUROPE 11372). As is required by the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, it opened consultations at the end of 2015 with the social partners to find out if they would consider concluding independent agreements on the issues of maternity/paternity/parental leave, caregiver’s leave and flexible working. The second and final consultation phase came to an end on 30 September.
Meeting in the social dialogue committee on 27 September, the social partners reached the conclusion that they were not in a position to be able to negotiate, the employers’ representatives having come out against negotiations. Employers’ representatives are of the view that the current legislative framework is sufficient. The European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-sized Organisations (UEAPME) and the European Centre of Employers and Enterprises (CEEP) believe, more specifically, that this is not the right time, given that this issue is already on the European social partners’ work programme for 2015-2017. “The Commission ought to have waited until the social partners completed their work, including on flexible working arrangements so dear to public companies. This consultation, however, has not helped bipartite dialogue”, said CEEP Secretary General Valeria Ronzitti.
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), on the other hand, told the Commission that it was ready to begin negotiations with employers’ representatives on virtually all the issues (Ed: it would prefer the Commission directly to present a legislative proposal on the revision of the directive on pregnant workers and workers who have recently given birth or are breastfeeding, which governs maternity leave). In its response, ETUC supports, among other things, extending maternity leave with full pay to 18 weeks, introducing paternity leave of at least 2 weeks and extending parental leave to 6 months, and increasing the age up to which parental leave can be requested.
At the time that EUROPE was going to press, the Commission had yet to receive submissions from all the social partners and, therefore, declined to make any comment. It simply confirmed that, were negotiations to fail, it would present its proposals at the start of 2017, taking due account of the positions expressed by the social partners. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)