The reason I claim it is a very unfair situation, is because it offers a significant cushion to a particular class of people (parents), paid out of the taxes of everyone, and yet there are significant minorities of people falling through the cracks. For instance, due to a malfunctioning health-sector I've seen people who break a leg outside working hours get a significant paid leave, and yet people with job-caused mental illness (e.g. burnout) lose their job, and attain NEET status, with 0 state support (for the less fortunate, this is the road to homelessness and a whole lot of other problems). Of course, due to being low status groups, their are not in a position to negociate or lobby their interests to the law-makers. This is just an example, and I know the people disadvantaged by this policy are a small minority (single males for instance), but I think the state should provide equal opportunity to everyone, and for that reason, paying a certain subgroup of people with taxes taken from everyone is an unfair proposition in my book. (Of course, in this particular Eastern Bloc country, fairness is the least of worries, most state institutions are barely functional due to widespread corruption).
Of course, if you've got a population decline problem, like many of the European countries have, then incentivising birth is too good a solution to ignore.
But I still think the most fair/correct approach is having the employer pay for the leave, and factor that into wages/hiring. It's only fair to pay more/hire someone whose potential contribution/output is higher(although I know this is a sensitive topic that's become quite a taboo recently, I think around here people are more prone to think critically than the general public).