The European context is very varied as there are no minimum standards for paternity leave at EU level, but the European Commission aims to modernize the existing legal framework and so is working on the proposal for a Directive on 'Work-Life Balance for Parents and Carers'.
"Traditionally Eastern Europe has had longer working hours, but with the new EU directive on working time, the new member states will have to adapt to the relations and efficiency in the EU 15," he said.
A new proposed directive on work-life balance, due to be voted on by Parliament in April 2019, is expected to introduce a mandatory period of paternity leave across the Union.
I am thinking of course of the agreements on the telecom package, food safety, safety in the aviation sector, and the directive on working times for road transport.
I will continue with the same argument as Mr Andersen, because, like him, I work in the Committee on Employment, and I am going to vote yes, because the approval is also going to help another dossier about which we are very concerned, which is the general Directive on working time, for which I am rapporteur.
The draft text aims to improve arrangements for enforcing the rules laid down in a 1996 directive on working conditions of workers posted abroad to provide services for a limited time, so as to prevent abuses.
20 There is also considerable evidence on the impact of the working-time directive on the work of hospital doctors.
EU directives on working time particularly irk the businessman, who founded the FTSE 100 investment group Hargreaves Lansdown, although he has now stepped down from any formal executive role at the firm.
ETUC has scored some successes in Europe, including framework agreements defining minimum rights for workers and, more notably, the introduction of a directive on European works councils.
In response to Mr Markov and to Mrs Ayala, I will state that the study on the use of small lorries is under way, that we envisage a meeting taking place this year with all of the interested parties and, once again, that we are going to increase the coordination between these texts and the directive on drivers' working time.
