telegraph - EU to offer 18 weeks fully paid maternity leave

The plan, to be announced by the EU's social affairs commissioner Vladimir Spidla, will impose six weeks of compulsory leave for new mothers after the birth, with the remaining 12 weeks to be split either before or after the child is born.

Under existing laws, introduced in 1992, the EU enforces a minimum of 14 weeks of fully paid leave.

Brussels sets the minimum length of maternity leave and pay, but member states may offer more generous provisions beyond this level.

Maternity leave periods range from 14 weeks in Germany and 16 weeks in France, the Netherlands and Spain, to 45 weeks in Bulgaria.

Sweden is particularly generous, offering a year of parental leave at full pay, which can be transferred to the father.

The UK also offers 52 weeks of maternity leave, 39 of which are paid, but at a rate of 90 per cent of their average pay for six weeks and a fixed sum of £117.18 a week for the other 33 weeks.

The government has broadly welcomed the commission's desire to increase the length of maternity leave.

But it is concerned that if accompanied by an increase in pay, the UK might be forced to reduce its allowable period of maternity leave.

An official with the British mission to the EU told The Daily Telegraph: "It would have a huge cost to the public purse, and we don't want to be weighing up the length of time mothers take off against what they are paid."

The Conservative Party has attacked the proposals as "ill-judged" and wants them reconsidered.

"Decisions regarding maternity leave and maternity pay should be made by national governments, not the EU," said Philip Bushill-Matthews MEP, the Conservative leader and employment spokesman in the European parliament. "It is not for Brussels to tell British mothers and fathers how much leave they should take.

"Small businesses will struggle to afford this extra cost. Ultimately some of the smallest businesses may think twice about employing young women through fear of them going on maternity leave."

Following Ireland's vote against the EU's Lisbon Treaty, some Brussels officials are eager to enthuse people with a series of more generous, socially oriented proposals.

The plan, which must yet be approved by EU member states and the European Parliament, would force employers to offer additional leave in the case of premature childbirth, when an infant that is hospitalised at birth or in the event of multiple births.

Mothers would also win the right to return to the same job or a similar one but with the same terms and conditions.

Employers would find it harder to fire mothers within six months of the end of the maternity leave. If dismissed within this period, they could ask for a written explanation.