In October, the European Parliament amended a draft EU directive to prolong guaranteed maternity leave to 20 weeks on full pay, plus two weeks’ paid paternity leave for fathers. But Germany and Britain led opposition to the move, claiming it would entail “utterly unacceptable costs” in the current economic climate. Labour MEPs had warned of a backlash from governments.
“I don’t want to say ‘I told you so’, but we thought it was asking for too much”, London MEP Mary Honeyball told Tribune. “We predicted it would be blocked in Council. We never supported 20 weeks on full pay – although personally I think it would be great, if we could get it through. I am not opposed in principle.”
Ms Honeyball was concerned that a number of other provisions in the directive could now be lost. Besides paternity leave, it would have enabled women to stop working nights and overtime in late pregnancy, and offered additional leave on the birth of a disabled or premature child, extra protection from dismissal, and breast-feeding breaks. She believes the British government’s opposition was not just on financial grounds. “I think it’s an ideological objection, too.”
Edward Davey, the coalition’s Employment Relations Minister, described the outcome as “a good result”.
