Strasbourg, 13/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, the European Parliament approved the amendment to the 1976 directive on equal opportunities for men and women for gaining access to employment, training and professional promotion, and working conditions. MEPs adopted, without amendments, the report by Heidi Hautala (Greens/EFA, Finland), which proposed endorsement of the joint proposal of directive approved by the Conciliation Committee between the European Parliament and Council. The new text gives a definition of direct and indirect discrimination and of sexual harassment, defined as being "the situation in which undesired behaviour of sexual connotation, expressed in a physical, verbal or non verbal way, occurs with the aim of or harming the dignity of the person and, in particular, creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment". The text also specifies other aspects of equal treatment, such as proposals for maternity or paternity. This is the first time employers will be forced to take measures to eliminate all the disparities in the work place, rapporteur Heidi Hautala was pleased to state during the debate. "We have developed the basic instrument", she stressed, remarking that this text was very important also for the candidate countries. A small polemic occurred with the EPP speaker, Luxembourg national Astrid Lulling, who criticised the rapporteur for having "made us lose too much time by weighing us down with counter-productive amendments". Ms Lulling continued saying that, if one had listened to her group, they could have saved a year, but it has taken all this time to "convince some highly-strung women" from the women's committee. The female rapporteurs of other political groups, however, supported the conciliation work carried out by Heidi Hautala. Fiorella Ghilardoti, for the PES, congratulated her on having successfully achieved "an excellent result" in such a difficult negotiation. The directive "gives a precise definition of direct and indirect discrimination" and recognises the importance of maternity and paternity leave, said the Italian MEP. Lone Dybkjaer (ELDR) and Geneviève Fraisse (GUE/NGL), among others, also praised her work.