IMPLEMENTATION OF EU STANDARDS ON PARENTAL LEAVE IN EU MEMBER STATES AND UKRAINE

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the legal nature of the implementation mechanism of the new Council Directive 2019/1158 on work-life balance for parents and carers in EU Member States and compliance of the Ukrainian Legislation with the provisions of this Directive. It is noted that the Directive (EU) 2019/1158 repealed Directive 2010/18/EU and should be transposed into the legal system of Ukraine according to the Association Agreement. The provisions of the Directive 2019/1158 should become legally binding in all EU Member States by August 2022 but as of January 2022 only 4 States have submitted information to the European Commission regarding their transposition measures.
Nevertheless, it is underlined that the current legislation in the majority of the EU Member States corresponds to the provisions of the Directive 2019/1158 and sometimes is even more favorable for parents than it is provided by the Directive.
Special attention is paid to the assessment of the Ukrainian efforts to bring national legislative provisions in compliance with the EU standards and requirements of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.
Key words: European Union, work-life balance, parental leave, paternal leave, social policy, Association Agreement, implementation.