madam president this directive was always intended quite rightly to provide minimum standards to protect pregnant workers and women who are breastfeeding
however i find that some of the amendments from the committee on women's rights and gender equality and the committee on employment and social affairs go too far
they do not take into account the different traditions in different member states
some countries have maternity leave some have paternity leave as well and some have parental leave
they are paid in totally different ways and at different rates some from the social security systems some from businesses and some are a mixture
we must not ruin some very good systems
my amendments try to address the difficulty of achieving something that will suit all member states
bringing in full pay would in my opinion stop a lot of young people or young women in particular being employed
i am pleased that the second impact assessment was at least more detailed than the first
as you know it said that it would cost the ten member states over eur seven billion a year if full pay was included
it did not even look at the other seventeen member states and i assume the cost of bringing in full pay for them would also be problematic
as far as compulsory leave is concerned i have always believed that it is for the mother herself to decide what time to take off and when to take it off
in the nineteen sixties and seventies we fought for equal rights for women not for them to be dictated to and we seem to be going backwards instead of forwards
