EU: last chance for the draft directive extending maternity leave

The European Commission suggested that it was going to withdraw its draft directive on maternity leave, for which debates have been stuck for 3 years because the Council of Ministers and European Parliament’s position are too further apart. The Italian Presidency of the EU, which took up its post on July 1, promised to revive the talks at the Council of Ministers to give this text one last chance.
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This draft directive, proposed in 2008 (see article No. 080746), which revises a text dating back to 1992 (92/85 – protection of pregnant women), brings the minimum duration of maternity leave from 14 weeks today up to 18 and improves the protection of mothers and future mothers against discrimination. In 2010, at its first reading – not without a few difficulties because of internal disagreements – the European Parliament adopted a text brining maternity leave to at least 20 weeks paid the amo

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