Labour MEP Miriam Dalli is calling for a discussion on family leave, whereby parents can choose to split parental leave after the birth of a child according to their needs.

By law, mothers can benefit from up to 18 weeks leave but fathers only enjoy one day of birth leave.

“I firmly believe fathers need more leave after the birth of their child and both parents should be able to split parental leave as they deem fit,” Dr Dalli said.

She was speaking about the Child Guarantee, an initiative launched in 2015 by the Socialists and Democrats group in the European Parliament.

Such a guarantee would ensure that every European child at risk of poverty would have access to free quality healthcare, education, childcare, decent housing and adequate nutrition.

According to Eurostat data, 24 per cent of Maltese aged under 18 were at risk of poverty in 2016, down from 28 per cent in 2015. Overall, the data showed that 24.8 million children in the EU – or one-quarter of the population aged below 18 – were at risk of poverty or social exclusion.

The idea is for the Child Guarantee to have an EU financial instrument to complement national initiatives that are not sufficient and to centralise EU initiatives fighting child poverty.

Among other things, the S&D group is planning to include the guarantee in the regulation establishing the new European Social Fund+ for the next multi-annual financial framework 2021-2027.

Dr Dalli noted that while, in Malta, the Child Guarantee principles were already in place, the country had to continue building on existing measures to reach more children.

While one tended to revert to statistics when measuring the quality of life, there were people behind those numbers, she said, adding that the quality of life could be improved through equal opportunities.

“A Child Guarantee also means that we want families to live in dignity. There are different measures to address this. At this stage, I think that one important leap for Malta would be to introduce equal family leave for both parents,” Dr Dalli said.

She said she heard workers’ unions proposing that the father should at least take two consecutive weeks of paternity leave on full pay, which would be taken at his discretion within a year from the birth or adoption of a child.

Another proposal was for parents to be able to split an additional number of weeks of parental leave on full pay, according to their wishes, within a year.

Dr Dalli called for a mature discussion, which included employers, to pave the way for a solution that protected the family while ensuring that more capable and  talented women joined and remained in the workforce.

“Protecting the family means understanding that both parents have an equal role to play in the life of their children,” she said.