LABOUR LAW : PATERNITY LEAVE PLANS DIVIDE MEPS.

Portuguese Socialist MEP Edite Estrela's report on the proposed extension of maternity leave provoked a lively debate at the 25 January meeting of the European Parliament's Committee on Women's Rights (FEMM). The MEPs' views differed widely. In Estrela's account, her first report on the issue was blocked by the EPP and ALDE groups last June, right before the European elections. However, according to Conservative MEP Astrid Lulling of Luxembourg, the EPP "did not block the report. We simply saved the EP from looking ridiculous. But what Estrela has done now in her report has made matters even worse: we'd be even more confused if we were to adopt her report in its present form".

In her report, Estrela proposes to extend the duration of paid maternity leave from 14 to 20 weeks across the Union, and she also argues for the inclusion of two weeks of "paternity leave" for new fathers in the directive. But Lulling remained unconvinced:a"You are just drawing up a wish list of whatever you want. We are in a legislative procedure here. You are making both women and men unemployable by including rules on working hours for new parents. If you want to include paternity leave then send the text back to the Commission and ask them for a different text because it is getting politically incorrect what you are doing with this proposal".

Meanwhile, the Greens back the idea of a two-week paternity leave' and would like to see the extension of the duration of paid maternity leave from 14 to 24 weeks. According to Dutch Green MEPaMarije Cornelissen,a"We need all women to go to work - ours is an ageing population. If we do not give women at least 20 weeks of paid leave, they will have to take sick leave later in the year, which also implies extra costs for companies". As for the question of paternity leave', Cornelissen said that since "the Commission has no intention to propose legislation on this, we should be the one to do so".

Attending the committee meeting, Spain's Minister for EqualityaBibiana Aido Almagro did not reveal whether Madrid was for or...