Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said today that the PN agreed with extending maternity leave to 20 weeks from the current 14, as long as there was a level playing field among the EU member states.
The issue was raised in the European Parliament earlier this month, when the PPE, of which the PN forms part, voted against.
Dr Gonzi said that while Malta had one of the shortest periods of maternity leave, at 14 weeks, Maltese workers were fully paid for those weeks, while other countries had longer leave but workers were not given their full salary.
Speaking at a press conference in the car park of Lufthansa Technik carpark, Dr Gonzi focused completely on work, saying the government had a job creation track record to be proud of and last year had managed to create 7,000 new jobs.
Reacting to today's figures showing growth of over 1,124 in unemployment between April this year and last year, Dr Gonzi said the NSO statistics issued today also showed that the unemployment rate for November, the latest available, stood at 4.3 percent, which was lower than in November 2007, despite the international recession. He said that it was true that after November unemployment rose, partially because of the early retirement scheme at Malta Shipyards, but the government had stepped in to safeguard 2,000 jobs in manufacturing industries whose markets were affected by the recession. The economy had also created jobs. Lufthansa Technik, for example, had just engaged 20 former dockyard workers.
Dr Gonzi said 93 companies had applied for a recently launched scheme to engage workers from disadvantaged categories, with the ETC partly meeting the salaries bill. These applications involved a government commitment of €6 million.
Replying to questions, Dr Gonzi said the privatisation of Malta Shipyards remained on track, but he could not give further details.
On health, he said a report unveiled by Opposition leader Joseph Muscat yesterday was about proposals for primary health care reform, including providing family doctors with better facilities to do their jobs better.One of the recommendations had been to close health centres and concentrate on family doctors, but the government disagreed with this. The Opposition, he said, should not seek to politicise the health sector for political ends.
On the VAT fraud scandal, Dr Gonzi said he would not tolerate any abuse and if the investigations unearthed evidence of abuse, all those involved would be taken to court, independently of who they were. He condemned all abuse and he expected the PL to back the government on this one.
Dr Gonzi urged all eligible voters to cast their vote on June 6, saying that MEPs would be involved in decisions which affected everyone - from the amount of overtime workers could work to abortion, to financial assistance for investment in the energy sector.