Question écrite de
-
Commission européenne
Subject: Non-existence of EU powers in the field of social affairs
The European Union has no powers in the field of social security (Articles 3, 4 and 5 TFEU). The Netherlands’ Minister for Social Affairs and Employment, Mr Koolmees, has stated that he regards paternity leave as a matter for the Member States. Despite that fact, the Council has decided to draft legislation on this subject.
1. On what legal basis and which article(s) of the Treaty will the Commission base the forthcoming legislation?
2. Does the Commission agree that social security is certainly not an exclusive competence of the European Union, and that subsidiarity can apply only if Member States themselves cannot achieve the intended objective at central, regional or local level?
3. Can the Commission give reasons why Member States in general, and the Netherlands in particular, are unable to regulate paternity leave themselves and why the national sovereignty of Member States in this field should be violated?
Answer given by Ms Thyssen on behalf of the European Commission
(28 August 2018)
1. The proposal for a directive on work-life balance for parents and carer s (1) is based on Article 153(1)(i) and (2)(b) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. These articles explicitly entrust the Union to support and complement the activities of the Member States in the field of equality between men and women with regard to labour market opportunities and treatment at work. Since the main objective of the proposal is to address women's underrepresentation in the labour market resulting from the unbalanced sharing of work and care between men and women, this article constitutes the appropriate legal basis for the directive.
2. The Commission agrees that social security forms part of the shared competences between the EU and Member States. The Commission reiterates however, that the objective of the proposal for a directive on work-life balance is not to regulate on social security, but to ensure the implementation of the principle of equality between men and women with regard to labour market opportunities and treatment at work. As demonstrated in the supporting impact assessment (2), this objective cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States, but can be better achieved at Union level. Therefore, it is justified that the Union adopts measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty.
3. The Commission has respected the principle of subsidiarity and did not violate national sovereignty by proposing the Work- Life Balance Directive which includes minimum standards for paternity leave. There is existing EU acquis in this policy area, including Directive 2010/18/EU (3) on parental leave and Directive 92/85/EEC (4) on maternity leave as well as Directive 2006/54/EC which foresees rules on paternity leave if this exists at national level. This proposal for a directive lays down only minimum requirements thus giving the Member States the choice of introducing or maintaining more favourable provisions.
⋅1∙ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=COM:2017:253:FIN
⋅2∙ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1494930224612&uri=CELEX:52017SC0202
⋅3∙ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2010:068:0013:0020:en:PDF
⋅4∙ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A31992L0085