The Labour government gave too little, almost too late, when it adopted the EU's Work Life Balance Directive through legal notice last week, the PN said on Tuesday.

David Casa, who helped pilot the directive through the European Parliament, said the government had adopted the bare minimum requirements of the directive and adopted them just days before the transposition deadline.

The directive is aimed to counter gender inequality by extending the rights of workers with children.

The government announced last week that new fathers are to get 10 days of fully paid paternity leave, carers will get five days leave to support a relative, parental leave has been divided into two months paid, two unpaid, and parents of children under eight can request flexible working hours.

Casa said the PN was urging the government to revisit the directive and amend the legal notice.

He said the directive was a major step forward for families across the European Union, reducing differences at places of work, in salaries and pensions. He recalled PN promises in terms of the directive, such as extending paternity leave further.  

But the government had dragged its feet in adopting the directive and kept to the bare minimum of requirements, with scant consultation with the social partners, who were being made to pay for the new measures instead of the state.   

MP Ivan Castillo observed that not enough leave flexibility was being allowed. And parents of children born before next August 2 were being excluded from the new rights.  

MP Graziella Attard Previ said this directive amounted to investment in families and it should therefore have been implemented more fully.