EUROPE understands that the second inter-institutional meeting on the work-life balance directive on Monday 8 October presages particularly tough negotiations.
The blockage is reported to mainly arise from the Council’s position, which makes no proposals for moving forward, on the levels of paternity pay and parental leave, the duration of non-transferability between the mother and father and the age of children for which special arrangements at work are allowed. A source said the Austrian Presidency would have to come back with a new mandate if progress is to be made.
On the big issue, paternity leave and parental leave, the problem is that the Council is not prepared to relinquish anything at all, explains a source adding that the European Parliament will not budge on parental leave.
The co-legislators did manage to agree on one point – the need to reach agreement under the Austrian Presidency before the end of the year, but some observers fear the worst, given the way the last meeting went.
The Council and Parliament’s positions diverge greatly: where the Parliament foresees 80% of the gross salary for paternity pay and carer pay, (and 78% for parental leave), the Council has agreed on "adequate remuneration". Likewise, MEPs have set the period of non-transferability of parental leave at four months, compared with the Council’s two months (one and a half of which remunerated).
At the European Parliament, the upper age limit of a child to be eligible for parental leave and adjustments to work arrangements is ten years, but the member states have scrapped any reference to a particular age. The Parliament has extended the cases for which carer leave may be requested and adjusted the directive to take account of gay couples (see EUROPE 12060).
A technical meeting is foreseen for 18 October. The next inter-institutional meeting is scheduled for 6 November. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)