The European Commission has written to 11 countries regarding their failure to fully transpose the Work-Life Balance Directive for parents and carers: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czechia, Cyprus, Ireland, Greece, France, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Spain. The Directive aims to foster equal participation of men and women in labour market, by encouraging equal sharing of care responsibilities between parents. The Directive establishes five working days per year of carers' leave for workers providing personal care or support to a relative or person living in the same household. In addition, it gives all carers and working parents of children up to eight years old the right to request flexible working arrangements.
The Directive is still not fully transposed in the aforementioned countries, therefore the Commission has decided to take a further step in the infringement procedures by sending a reasoned opinion, detailing the concerns of the Commission. Member States now have two months to take the necessary measures to comply with the reasoned opinion, otherwise the Commission may decide to refer the matter to the Court of Justice of the European Union (the next step on the infringement process). Further information on infringement proceedings relating to the Work-Life Balance Directive is available at:
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_23_2112
