The National Council of Women yesterday accused the government of putting “monetary factors” above the well-being of working mothers and their newborns, after Malta took a position against a European Commission proposal to extend maternity leave.
On Monday, the majority of EU Social Affairs Ministers, including Malta’s, opposed a proposal to extend the minimum maternity leave threshold from 14 to 20 weeks.
The proposal, which had won the backing of the European Parliament last October, had also recommended two fully paid weeks of paternal leave.
Although the proposal will be kept on the EU agenda, it will now have to be put on the backburner until the EP softens its stance, as it requires the joint green light of the Parliament and the EU Council (where the ministers meet) to become law.
Disappointed by the outcome, NCW president Grace Attard pointed out that Malta still had a low participation rate of women in the labour market. The figure stood at 40 per cent when the EU target was to reach 75 per cent by 2020.
Ms Attard said it was important to study the situation to better understand whether government incentives to attract women to work were addressing the needs of parents who wanted to stay with their newborns during such a sensitive time.
The government’s stand was also criticised by the Labour Party and Alternattiva Demokratika.
“The Nationalist government has confirmed it only plays the family-values’ card when it suits it,” AD said.
The PL added: “The Prime Minister does not have a long-sighted economic and social vision but only looks at what happens from one election to the other.”
Forum, made up of a group of trade unions, condemned the “negative and retroactive” decision taken by the government.
“The family, children’s upbringing and the possibility of encouraging more women to work ought to come before any financial considerations,” Forum secretary general Paul Pace said.
Social Policy Minister Dolores Cristina told her colleagues in Brussels on Monday Malta thought the proposal was premature and required more studies on its impact. She argued that the issue should be dealt with directly by member states on an individual basis. In a statement issued yesterday, the Family Ministry said the government was not against the extension of parental leave. Government was insisting that any changes ought to be up to member states and introduced gradually.
The ministry pointed out that government had introduced incentives to encourage women to work and these included tax cuts and the increase in child care centres.
Had the proposal been adopted, maternity leave in Malta would have increased by six weeks from 14 while fathers would have become entitled to two weeks of fully paid paternity leave as opposed to just two days.
While women’s organisations lobbied in favour of the proposal, businesses in Malta opposed it and had lobbied the government to reject it. They argued that it would create a financial burden on employers who would have to foot the cost alone.
Employers and women’s organisations, however, argued that the government should shoulder part of the financial burden.
According to an impact study carried out by the Maltese Business Bureau, the increase to 20 weeks would have cost the Maltese economy €12 million a year. This estimate was later shot down by Labour MEP Edward Scicluna, an economist, who said the extension would cost about €5 million.