Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil has pointed a finger at the government for not taking action to remove the loopholes in the law that allowed employers to abuse the system.

Employers who used legal loopholes and, for example, forced workers to register as self-employed, depriving them of any right to leave or sickness benefits, should be stopped, he said.

The government was not clamping down on these employers or the loopholes in the law, Dr Busuttil said.

"I believe the government is not working hard enough to remove precarious work conditions that are allowed by the system - employers are not breaking Maltese or EU law but they are also not being fair."

Dr Busuttil was speaking during a discussion called Business Meets MEPs, organised by the Malta Business Bureau. It was the first of four discussion meetings that will take place this year with different MEPs.

Interviewed by journalist Miriam Dalli, Dr Busuttil discussed a number of EU directives including maternity leave and the capping of overtime.

A balance had to be struck between the EU's social measures and its competitive edge, he said. "But everything comes at a price and countries might be slightly less competitive because of certain social measures that are there to help people in difficulty."

Speaking about maternity leave, Dr Busuttil disagreed with proposals within the EU to extend it by four weeks: "I think it's too much as it is not sustainable in today's economies."

The European Commission's proposal, still under discussion, recommends that EU member states increase the minimum entitlement of maternity leave to 18 weeks from the present 14.

However, Dr Busuttil said he was open to discussing the possibility of extending it. Discussions had to be held on the conditions where, for example, the 18 weeks did not include a full wage.

Anna Borg, from the University's Centre for Labour Studies, disagreed with Dr Busuttil's argument and said 14 weeks were not enough for the mother to get back on her feet and start working.

The extension was based on a recommendation made by the World Health Organisation that a mother should breastfeed for at least six months, she said.

The country was investing heavily in women, where they surpassed men at University, but then wasted it because women were not returning to work after giving birth, she added.

The present 14 weeks were not realistic and longer periods of maternity leave would mean more women would return to work.

Dr Busuttil quoted a report by Portuguese MEP Edite Estrela, the European Parliament's rapporteur on maternity leave, who said a period of time longer than 20 weeks might actually diminish women's prospects of returning to the labour market.

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