Brussels, 16/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission's plan to withdraw the proposed directive on maternity leave in the absence of swift progress on the dossier has divided the MEPs.
The Social Democrats, Greens and United Left want to stick to the negotiating mandate already voted upon at the European Parliament for this dossier. They are firmly opposed to the Commission making good on its threat to withdraw its proposal at the end of the first half of the year if no progress is made. These political groups made this clear in their respective resolutions on the working programme of the Commission for 2015, on which the Parliament failed to agree on Thursday 15 January (see EUROPE 11231). The maternity leave dossier has been at stalemate at the Council for four years (see EUROPE 11216).
The Liberals and Christian Democrats made absolutely no reference to the controversial legislative project in their resolution. As for the Conservatives, they state that they support the Commission's intention to withdraw the draft directive on maternity leave, choosing instead to recognise the right of the member states to adopt provisions which go beyond the minimum requirements of Union legislation. (MD)