Which EU countries fight pay gaps? Transparency rules split the bloc

Starting in June 2026, employers across the EU must publish salary ranges in job ads, stop asking about candidates’ pay history, and allow workers to request pay data on colleagues doing equivalent work.

That’s the promise of the Pay Transparency Directive. However, most member states missed the June deadline to adopt it into national law.

Only Italy, Slovakia, Malta and Lithuania fully transposed the rules on time. Belgium, Malta and Poland did so partially. The Netherlands has pushed its deadline to January 2027, and Ireland confirmed it will miss it too. Estonia signalled it may simply pay EU fines rather than implement the directive as written. Five countries, including Austria, Hungary and Luxembourg, have taken no action at all.

The stakes are high. Women in the EU earn 11.1 percent less per hour than men, a gap that has barely changed in a decade. The directive aims to close it by making pay visible and shifting the burden of proof onto employers when discrimination is suspected.

“That veil didn’t just hide gaps, it reproduced them,” says MEP Gabriele Bischoff.

For now, rights guaranteed on paper at the EU level remain unevenly enforceable on the ground.

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