EU: the European Commission presents a series of options substituting its withdrawal of the draft Maternity Leave Directive

The European Commission had previously indicated it would put forward proposals to relaunch policies aimed at achieving better work-life balance as a substitute for withdrawing the draft Maternity Leave Directive, which has been sitting on the Council of Ministers’ table for four years. On August 03, the European Commission published its roadmap containing three options (a fresh proposal avoiding maternity leave but improving protection for pregnant women and young mothers, a new European policy encouraging Member States to undertake measures aimed at improving work-life balance, and a mix of both). These will be put to public consultation.
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The European Commission held to its commitments in spite of the doubtful reaction resulting from its withdrawal of the draft Maternity Leave Directive that had intended to extend maternity leave from 14 to 18 weeks. Given the lack of agreement between Parliament and European Ministers the Commission announced it would withdraw the draft Directive as part of its REFIT exercise (annual ‘spring cleaning’ of legislative overhang, c.f. article No.9167). In a roadmap presented on August 03 the Commis

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