The EU unveiled a raft of proposals on Wednesday to improve the work-life balance for Europeans in an effort to fight accusations by populist parties that Brussels is too beholden to budget cuts and free markets. The new ideas include an EU-wide policy on paternity leave for fathers and more rights for parents to ask for time off.
The commission is also looking to better protect Uber drivers and food delivery couriers, employees of the so-called gig economy that have limited access to benefits. The measures are part of what the EU is calling the "pillar of social rights", announced in the wake of Britain's Brexit vote as a way to win back the faith of Europeans tempted by euroscepticism.
The announcement comes at an especially sensitive moment in France, where pro-EU Emmanuel Macron will in the second round of the presidential election face the far right Marine Le Pen, who calls Brussels a destroyer of the welfare state.
"Look what is going on in France in the election campaign, social policy is the top of people's minds and what we have to do is regain the trust of the people in the institutions," Social Affairs Commissioner Marianne Thyssen said at a news conference.
These ideas face a long road to becoming reality. Today, the EU has very little power over social policies that remain the strict remit of national governments.
The end goal for the commission is that social protection one day be incorporated into the EU treaties which right now is only vaguely mentioned.
"I have been seeking to put social priorities at the heart of Europe's work, where they belong," said European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker, the former Luxembourg prime minister.
But opposition has been historically spearheaded by Britain, which is leaving the EU, and Brussels hopes to seize the opportunity to bring the topic back to the fore.
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