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In its coalition agreement, the government made up of SPD, Greens and FDP committed to paternity leave
Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Ten days of paternity leave – working fathers are entitled to this under a new EU directive.
In addition, according to the regulations, each parent is entitled to at least four months of parental leave, two months of which are paid.
The work-life balance policy comes into effect on Tuesday.
The measure is intended to regulate the participation of women in the labor market, for example.
According to a communication from the European Commission, the employment rate for women in the EU is 10.8 percentage points lower than for men.
Additionally, only 68 percent of women with caregiving responsibilities would work compared to 81 percent of men with the same responsibilities.
Up to three years parental leave in Germany
Germany is initially not implementing new EU rules for paternity leave after the birth of a child.
According to the Ministry of Family Affairs in the EU, the federal government has negotiated an exception.
The reason for this are existing measures for the compatibility of family and work, some of which go far beyond the new EU rules.
"Particularly due to the comprehensive system of parental allowance and parental leave, parents in Germany are already better off than is required by the compatibility guideline," said a spokeswoman for the ministry of the dpa news agency.
In Germany, employees can take parental leave for up to three years.
If both parents share the time, up to 14 months of it can be paid for.
However, this is not enough for some associations: The Fathers' Center in Dresden, for example, also requires ten days of paternity leave in Germany.
The government made up of SPD, Greens and FDP has already committed to this in its coalition agreement.
"A separate law is to be introduced this year," said the ministry spokeswoman for the dpa.
Parents in Denmark are entitled to a total of 48 weeks of parental leave
In Denmark, new regulations for a more even distribution of parental leave have come into force.
Since Tuesday, eleven weeks have been planned for both parents.
In addition, there are a total of 26 more paid weeks, which in practice can be divided as desired.
Parents in Denmark are jointly entitled to a total of 48 paid weeks of parental leave.
So far, only two of these were stipulated for fathers and 14 for mothers. The new regulation is the result of an agreement that Parliament approved with a large majority in March.
Trade unions consider the new regulation to be an important step towards better opportunities for mothers on the labor market.
The Nordic partner countries Iceland, Sweden and Norway served as role models.
So far, mothers in Denmark have taken the majority of parental leave.
ani/dpa