Poland in the EU

The European Parliament is preparing a small revolution in the lives of young fathers. It wants to introduce a MANDATORY paternity leave. Very strangely, not many media have noticed.

Yes, mandatory means that fathers would have to take it. A European Parliament committee has proposed two weeks, although some MEPs initially wanted four. The plenary will vote on the issue today (Wednesday May 6). If the statements of the political groups in Monday's debate are anything to go by, they will vote "yes".

In my opinion this would be a revolution in family affairs. Many countries now have paternity leaves, but hardly anywhere (except for 3 days in Belgium, if I am not mistaken) are they mandatory. More often than not, men don't take them.

Such a law would really change the lives of families. From my (certainly not personal) observations the normal situation goes like this: after 2 or 3 days the father of a newborn goes back to work, happy to leave his screaming baby and sleepy wife at home and return to a more normal environment. Only a few weeks/months later he catches on that things have really changed.

I hear that in Scandinavia things are different, but for most countries these are still tales from distant lands.

Two weeks at home is certainly not a lot, but it would let new dads get acquainted with the new situation, and maybe even learn to enjoy it.

The MEPs have introduced the provision into a directive about maternity leave proposed by the European Commission. For it to become law it will need to be aproved not only by the whole EP, but also by the member states.

This will not prove easy. The directive also extends minimum maternity leave in the EU from the current 14 weeks to 18 (Commission version) or 20 weeks (PE version). Most countries are already above the minimum, but for some, like Germany, that's too much. The idea of it being fully paid will also cause protests. So it will be a struggle to have the whole thing approved.

For now, however, let's hope that the paternity leave regulations are not changed along the way. Commissioner Vladimir Spidla clearly stated in the EP on Monday that the Commission is agains the paternity leave amendment. Very strange. Does the Commission not believe children also need fathers? Does it not want to promote even a small dose of equality between women and men? I will have to ask.