April the 24th, 2023 - Brussels has initiated formal proceedings against Croatia for failing to implement an important European Union (EU) Directive surrounding the proper balancing of working and family/private life.
As Suzana Varosanec/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, there are a number of reasons why the 2019 EU Work-Life Balance Directive is seen as a real milestone for working parents and carers, as well as for everyone else who needs to draw a firm boundary between their work life and their private life in order to remain mentally healthy.
The aforementioned European Union Directive includes the right to request reduced or flexible working hours and flexibility within the workplace, which applies to all working parents with children up to eight years of age and all care providers.
However, although the new rules should enable people to develop their careers and family lives side by side, getting to enjoy both for what they are without dealing with the stress of the two lines constantly being blurred, while at the same time increasing their general sense of well-being, in as many as eleven EU member states, which includes Croatia, the new rules have not yet been implemented.
The deadline for this expired last summer, more precisely on August the 2nd, 2022, and after an official warning, the European Commission's April decision is now in force, continuing the legal proceedings started against Belgium, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Austria and Slovenia.
At this stage, this means the European Commission's reasoned opinions on the aforementioned articles are due to the violation of rights, and as such, a lawsuit against Croatia has been initiated. All of the aforementioned EU countries have two months to take measures to harmonise with this so-called reasoned opinion, including the Republic of Croatia, while in the opposite case the EC can refer full cases against them to the Court of the EU. Member states otherwise had ample time, more specifically three years to transpose it into their respective national laws.
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