The article examines how the need to successfully reconcile paid work, family responsibilities and private life, an idea summed up in the term «work-life balance», is now part of the political and union debate and has become one of the aims of the European social agenda. The analysis concentrates mainly on the European unions and seeks to bring out the distance between the fine words of community law and the actual state of things. It examines in particular the first two stages of the consultation process of the European social partners, launched by the Commission in 2006 and still developing at the time of writing. The article concludes with a comparison between the polices passed in the countries of northern and southern Europe.only subscribers can see the full article