The landmark Directive on Work-Life Balance came into force on Thursday 1 August. "A milestone in social policy and in favour of gender balance" - welcomed, in a statement on this occasion, the European Commission, which thus sees the priorities of the European Pillar of Social Rights becoming a little more concrete.
The Directive introduces several advances at European level: - parental leave of at least 4 months at the individual level, including 2 months of non-transferable leave, compensated in the long term at an appropriate level; - a paternity leave set at 10 days compensated at least at the national level of sick pay; - a leave for carers of 5 days per year per individual, but whose compensation is entirely at the discretion of the Member States. Finally, the Directive introduces flexible working arrangements at least until the child is 8 years old. The transposition period of the Directive has been extended to 3 years (see EUROPE 12179/2).
Yet for several observers, the final agreement is far below the ambitions initially set by the European Commission (see EUROPE 11775/2), as well as by the European Parliament, which provided for compensation levels for the various holidays of up to 80% of gross salaries (see EUROPE 12060/24).
However, the Directive will have a significant impact. The new paternity leave arrangements will require 11 Member States to amend their legislation, including Germany and Austria. Similarly, 12 Member States will have to adapt their national law to parental leave to introduce the concept of non-transferable and nine Member States will have to review their level of compensation. As for work flexibility, the new provisions will affect no fewer than 25 national legislations.
Mid-summer is an important milestone in the construction of a social Europe, with the entry into force yesterday of the Directive on Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions and the Regulation establishing a European Labour Authority (see EUROPE 12308/11). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)