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Transforming social policy in Europe? The EC's parental leave directive and misfit in the 15 member states

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  • Falkner, Gerda
  • Hartlapp, Miriam
  • Leiber, Simone
  • Treib, Oliver

Abstract

This paper presents first results from a collaborative research project which analyzes the national transposition, enforcement and application of six European labor law Directives in all 15 member states. Looking at the case of the EC's parental leave Directive (1996), it draws conclusions about the domestic impact of European social policy standards. It will interest practitioners as much as labor law experts that, in fact, adaptational pressure was created in all 15 member states. Although the overall economic impact of the Directive in terms of costs was rather modest, every single country had to change its rules. While misfit was rather small in Finland, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain and Sweden, the other member states were confronted with significant adaptation pressure. Political theorists may be surprised that our results cast doubts on the theoretical usefulness of focusing too much on matches or mismatches between European policies and domestic structures. We show that a very low degree of misfit may sometimes even be a problem rather than a condition for success and that the existence of considerable adaptational pressure may under certain conditions even be conducive to smooth implementation. In addition, several member states not only eliminated the misfit created by the Directive, but raised their domestic standards above the European minimum requirements.

Suggested Citation

  • Falkner, Gerda & Hartlapp, Miriam & Leiber, Simone & Treib, Oliver, 2002. "Transforming social policy in Europe? The EC's parental leave directive and misfit in the 15 member states," MPIfG Working Paper 02/11, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:mpifgw:0211
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Annette Elisabeth Töller, 2010. "Measuring and Comparing the Europeanization of National Legislation: A Research Note," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48, pages 417-444, March.
    2. Christian B. Jensen, 2007. "Implementing Europe," European Union Politics, , vol. 8(4), pages 451-477, December.
    3. Treib, Oliver, . "Implementing and complying with EU governance outputs," Living Reviews in European Governance (LREG), Institute for European integration research (EIF).
    4. Xiepu Yang, 2008. "Transformation of the roles of social partners through EU governance," Asia Europe Journal, Springer, vol. 6(3), pages 441-453, November.
    5. Scharpf, Fritz W., 2003. "Problem-solving effectiveness and democratic accountability in the EU," MPIfG Working Paper 03/1, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    6. Annette Elisabeth Töller, 2010. "Measuring and Comparing the Europeanization of National Legislation: A Research Note," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(2), pages 417-444, March.
    7. Federico Podestà, 2014. "The Impact of the 'Free Choice' Work/Family Reforms of France and Belgium. A Synthetic Control Analysis," FBK-IRVAPP Working Papers 2014-06, Research Institute for the Evaluation of Public Policies (IRVAPP), Bruno Kessler Foundation.

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