EU maternity leave proposal postponed again

Maltese would-be mothers will have to stick to their 14-week maternity leave entitlement for the time being after the postponement of an EU proposal aimed at increasing the basic threshold by a few weeks.

The European Parliament, which in committee has already approved an increase of six fully-paid maternity leave weeks over and above the current 14-week minimum threshold, has decided to postpone the final vote in the main chamber. The vote was meant to be taken in the next two weeks.

Following closed door meetings between leaders of the various political groups in the EP, it was decided a study will be now commissioned on the impact of such a move, particularly to assess its financial burden, before MEPs will be asked to approve the legislation.

EP sources told The Sunday Times: "Certain political groups in the EP are claiming this legislation will be impractical as it will cost business a lot of money and might even work against the employability of women. That is why the EP decided to postpone the vote in order to have an impact assessment and more time.

"At the moment we think that a further two months will be enough for a study to be conducted; however, the postponement can even take longer."

Although EU member states, which have the final say on the proposal, have not yet defined their final positions on the dossier and are awaiting the final EP vote, it is understood that there is still no consensus among governments.

In order to become law, the new legislation needs to obtain a qualified majority at Council level. Malta is taking a cautious position over the issue: "We are still waiting to see what the EP is going to do before we take our final position," government sources said.

"Although Malta is in favour of more incentives so that families will have a better work/family balance, there is a cost to all this. We have to be very cautious as this may not be the right time to increase the burden on businesses," the sources said.

At the same time, Malta is insisting that if an increase in maternity leave is to be granted, all member states should be able to apply the same rules, particularly on how maternity leave should be paid. The Maltese business community had openly criticised the proposal and said the government should oppose it.

Although Malta does not go beyond minimum leave entitlement permitted by EU rules - 14 weeks - they are all fully-paid. On the other hand, other member states grant more leave than Malta but in many cases this is only paid partially or not at all.

The Commission originally proposed an increase to 18 weeks, but the EP's women's rights committee went further and is now insisting on a minimum of 20 weeks.

The political groups in the EP are also split over the legislation. Should the impact study warn of high costs, it may swing the balance of opinion against the legislation.

The Commission made its proposal in October 2008. It said existing legislation on maternity leave, which dates from 1992, was not enough to balance work and family life. According to Commission figures, only 65.5 per cent of women with dependent children are working, compared with 91.7 per cent of men. This is the second time the Parliament has delayed progress on the dossier.