Maternity leave: is a compromise possible between Parliament and Council ?

Publié le 27 mars 2015 par Benoit

14, 18 or 20 weeks?
100% paid or not?
Thrown out after 7 years of procrastination ?

Maternity leave: is a compromise possible between Parliament and Council ?

In 2006, the European Council (the Heads of State and Government), whose role is to give the guidelines of the EU, called on the Commission to propose a directive to legislators (Parliament and Council of Ministers) ensuring the equality between men and women and a better balance between work and private life.

In 2008, the European Commission proposed a directive to comply with the ILO suggestions (International Labour Organisation) and follow the recommendations of the WHO (World Health Organization) that encourage breast-feeding. The draft Directive provides :

the passage from the 14-week maternity leave since 1992 to minimum 18 week maternity leave ;
the paid maternity leave under national rules ;
the prohibition of dismissal during maternity leave and 6 months after, except in exceptional cases ;
the right for women to get back their job or to get an equivalent one ;
the transposition of this Directive into national law within 2 years after the adoption by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers.

In March 2009, the Council of Ministers agreed to increase maternity leave to 18 weeks in the financial conditions of the draft directive ; some Member States requested that the leave should be open to fathers, and it should take into account the negotiations with the social partners.

In February 2010, the parliamentary Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality adopted in first reading Mrs Estrela's report, Portuguese S&D MEP, which goes beyond the text of the Commission, it provides :

a minimum of 20 week continuous maternity leave ;
the right to full paid maternity leave ;
fully paid compulsory maternity leave of at least six weeks after childbirth ;
possible sharing of these 6 weeks with the father ;
that workers whose spouse or partner has just given birth are entitled to a fully paid paternity leave, nontransferable at least 2 consecutive weeks after the birth of their spouse or partner during maternity leave ;
the adoption of children under 12 years follows the same law ;
the prohibition of dismissal during the period from the beginning of their pregnancy to six months at least after the end of maternity leave. Any dismissal during this period should be duly justified in writing ;
measures on working conditions, work nights, overtime, breastfeeding at work ...

In October 2010, the European Parliament, in plenary session, voted most of the text adopted by the committee by 390 against 192 and 59 abstentions.
For MEPs who supported Estrela's amendments the 100% compensation is important because the EU :

shall not punish women financially ;
must ensure Man-Woman equality ;
shall not punish families with children ;
must encourage the birth rate which the EU needs.

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Debates stumbled on compensation : the employers were in total disagreement, the British, German and French governements, among others, announced their hostility to the extension to 20 weeks because :

fully paid women for 20 weeks would have an exorbitant cost for companies in a very difficult economic environment ;
this measure would be costly to Member States also seek to reduce budget deficits.

After MEPs' vote, the Commission said it would engage to find a compromise between the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. However Vivian Reding, Vice-President at the time, warned that it would be difficult to find an agreement between the two lawmakers.

In December 2010, the Council rejected the 20 weeks and remained on the proposal from the European Commission.
In September 2011, a lobby entrepreneurs, Businesseurope, wrote to a Minister and argued :

the proposal from the European Commission was already "problematic" for businesses ;
20 week maternity leave would be detrimental to women's access to employment ;
nothing proves that 14 weeks would be harmful to health ;
maternity leave by 6 additional weeks would be costly ;
firstly the paternity leave and leave for adoption do not belong to a legislation that deals with pregnant women and secondly, if they are, they would be costly to the business economy too.

In December 2011, the Council remained on its position :

complete refusal of the fully paid 20 weeks ;
maternity compensation corresponding to sickness benefit or a maternity compensation with a ceiling, to have a basis for negotiations with Parliament.

Comparisons of maternity, paternity and parental leave according to the OECD.

Sources: OECD - Data last updated on 01-05-2014

http://www.oecd.org/els/soc/PF2_1_Parental_leave_systems_1May2014.pdf (page 3)

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In December 2014, after the election of the European Commission by the European Parliament, Jean-Claude Juncker, the new President, announced he wanted to reach a compromise between Parliament and Council on a hundred legislative procedures on which legislators could not find common ground. Maternity leave is one of them.
So the Commission has given lawmakers six months to reach an agreement.
Thus the draft directive on maternity leave might be abandoned in May 2015, if there's no compromise.
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According to Euractiv.fr, Latvian Presidency proposed a meeting so that the Parliament and Council points of views could be close before the fateful date set by the European Commission.
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Sources :

- Les eurodéputés votent l'extension du congé maternité à 20 semaines - lemonde.fr - 20-10-2010

- Businesseurope's point of view - 02-09-2011

- MEPs’ last attempt to save maternity leave extension - Euractiv.com - 16-03-2015

To go into :

- OECD Report

- Businesseurope : Missions / Members

- Procedure file - European Parliament

- EC Propositions - 03-10-2008

- Council Positions - 09-03-2009

- Vote in committee - 23-02-2010

- Summuray of the text adopted by the EP - 20-10-2010