BAKGRUNN (fra Kommisjonens pressemelding 18.11.2015, engelsk utgave)

Work-Life Balance for parents and caregivers: Commission launches public consultation
The European Commission has launched today a public consultation on how to improve work-life balance for parents and caregivers and reduce obstacles to their participation in the labour market. The Commission's new initiative aims to improvethe current EU legal and policy framework to ensure a better balance between caring and professional responsibilities for parents with children or those with dependent relatives, allow for a greater sharing of caring responsibilities between women and men, and strengthen gender equality in the labour market. The consultation document gives an overview of the main challenges arising from work-life balance for parents and people with caring responsibilities. It takes stock of the current EU-level measures already existing in the area of work-life balance and invites the public to provide feedback on the possible range of new EU-level measures. 

The consultation will run until 17 February 2016. In parallel, a consultation with the EU social partners on the same topic was launched on 11 November and will run until 4 January 2016.