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Restart talks on maternity leave, MEPs demand

Xinhua, May 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

The European Commission (EC) has been asked not to withdraw a draft EU directive extending maternity leave from 14 to 20 weeks.

A resolution passed on Wednesday in the European Parliament (EP) in Strasbourg called for a resumption of talks between the EC and the EU Council of Ministers on the directive, which have been deadlocked for four years.

Maternity leave is regulated at EU level by a 1992 directive that lays down a minimum of 14 weeks. In October 2008, the EC proposed to review the current legislation as part of the 'work-life balance' package, based on the International Labour Organisation's Maternity Protection Convention of 2000.

In October 2010 the EP submitted the amended legislation to extend maternity leave from 14 to 20 weeks on full pay and introduce two weeks' fully paid paternity leave.

However, the Council of Ministers has yet to take a position on the issue, and the EC announced its intention to withdraw the proposal as part of its Regulatory Fitness and Performance Programme (REFIT).

Rapporteur Marie Arena, a Belgian socialist MEP, said mothers who wish to have children and work as well will not be helped by "throwing away" the directive.

"What kind of Europe are we living in, if those who create life are penalised? What kind of Europe are we living in, if giving birth is synonymous with poverty," she said. "Since 1992, when the maternity leave directive was approved, we have made no progress. Women can't wait, they deserve, if they so wish, to be women, mothers and workers at the same time without being discriminated against," she added.

MEPs also reiterated their call to entitle fathers to at least 10 working days' paternity leave, in addition to the mother's leave. Endit