Commissioning mother not entitled to maternity leave

In its very first ruling on the subject, the EU Court of Justice, ruling in two cases concerning mothers whose children were born under a surrogacy agreement, held that EU law does not recognise the right to maternity or adoption leave in this situation (Cases C-167/12 and C-363/12). It thus endorsed the restrictive approach recommended by Advocate-General Nils Wahl, which reserves this right to women who have been pregnant and given birth, in opposition to that of fellow Advocate-General Juliane…