EU plans more help for mothers

The European Commission is unveiling plans to extend the minimum maternity leave across Europe from 14 to 18 weeks.

Nancy Godfroid wants more flexible rules to improve work-life balance
The plans are meant to offset falling birthrates across the EU.
For Nancy Godfroid, it would be a dream come true. It's 0730 and Nancy has to take her four-year-old son Anthony to school in a leafy district of Brussels.
She is the sort of woman that an ageing Europe needs, with a full-time job in a bank and another baby due later this month. You could say she has it all - but that's not what she thinks.
"The rules should be more flexible," Nancy Godfroid said, "in terms of the number of weeks you can take before and after birth.
"If I give birth earlier than expected, I lose part of my leave. I'd also like to have more time to breast-feed."
More safeguards
The existing EU law, which dates from 1992, provides for a minimum 14 weeks of maternity leave throughout Europe, including two compulsory weeks before the birth.

Nancy's situation is like that of many mothers across the EU
The new rules say women should be entitled to at least 18 consecutive weeks' maternity leave, six of which should be taken after birth. The rest would be taken before or after labour, as the mother chooses.
Under the proposals, the 27 EU countries would guarantee that women won't be sacked during or immediately after maternity leave. Governments would be free to offer new mothers more time off, but would have to pay them at least as much as sickness leave.
Across Europe, there are wide differences in the amount of leave and pay for mothers-to-be. In Belgium, it is 15 weeks; in France, 16; in Britain it is 26, while in Bulgaria you can take almost a year.
In Germany, which has one of the lowest birthrates in the EU, women are entitled to the minimum 14 weeks, but with full pay.
EU sets example
But Katharina von Schnurbein is lucky. Because she works for the European Commission, she gets 20 weeks on full pay.

Katharina enjoys generous terms as an EU employee
"I think we set a good example," said Ms Von Schnurbein, who is the social affairs spokeswoman for the European Commission.
She is also the highly pregnant poster-girl for the new directive on maternity leave. Just hours before she starts hers, she argues that giving women across Europe more support would make more of them choose to have babies and go back to work.
"It makes sense to see this not only as spending," Ms Von Schnurbein said, "but also as an investment in the future, to see how we can enable women to have a career, to have children and have the number of children they want."
The European Commission may want a better balance between work and family life, but that costs money.
Countries like Germany and Belgium would have to give women longer maternity leave, Britain and Bulgaria would have to pay them more while they stay at home looking after their babies - at least as much as normal sickness pay.
Liliane Volozinskis, from the European Union of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, which represents 12 million companies, says the price would be high for business and women themselves.
"It could create reluctance from small employers to hire women," she said, "because particularly in difficult economic situations you need to have people coming as soon as possible on the labour market."
Some, like the Czech Republic, also object to what they say is European Commission interference in their social welfare systems.
But if a majority of EU governments and the European Parliament agree, the new rules for maternity leave could be in place by 2011. That may encourage others to follow Nancy's and Katharina's example.