Withdrawal of maternity leave directive a real scandal

The European Commission today announced the withdrawal of the draft EU directive on maternity leave. Despite four years' hard work by the European Parliament to break the deadlock over the proposed directive in the EU Council of Ministers, negotiations were never endorsed.

GUE/NGL MEP Inês Zuber, who is shadow rapporteur on the file, said: “The decision to withdraw this directive is scandalous and represents a huge backlash for women´s rights and gender equality in the EU.”

She continued:  “Women are discriminated against because they are mothers, they earn less if they are mothers and this contributes to the EU's gender and pension pay gap. The withdrawal is also negative for fathers as the proposed directive also included provisions on paternity leave. A revision of the directive would have improved the benefits and the rights that mothers and workers are entitled to in many countries. Now the European Commission and the Council have taken clear position for inequality and injustice.”

GUE/NGL Press Contact:

Gay Kavanagh +32 473 84 23 20