Maternity leave move faces axe

Ensuring women have the same rights to a decent amount of maternity leave across the EU has been branded as ‘red-tape’ by the European Commission.

Word is that they will this week withdraw the legislation that member states have been kicking to touch for the past four years.

Frans Timmermans, the Dutch man who is Commission first vice-president, is expected to tell the European Parliament that countries have their own maternity leave rules and that’s enough.

Business has pushed to scrap it using the recession as an excuse.

The European Women’s Lobby says the move suggests women’s rights are optional and point to Slovenia where the pay of new mothers on maternity leave has been cut — legally allowing employers to discriminate against them.