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Committee on' Women's Rights and Gender Equality

The Chair
IPOL-COM-FEMM D(2015)15732
l ‘ Mr Martin Schulz
305663 2703201 5 Éﬁglggrgoolflthe European Parliament
Brussels

Subject: Maternity Leave Directive

Dear President,

The Parliament has, since the resumption of its work after the European Elections, tried
to engage with the Council in order to start negotiations on the maternity leave
directive. It has written 5 letters to the respective presidencies-in-ofﬁce, reiterating that
it is pragmatic, constructive and open to ﬁnd an agreement.

Despite these unequivocal signals, there has been no response from the Council. The
Commission in the meantime declared at several occasions its intention to Withdraw the
proposal if the co-legislators do not ﬁnd a way out of the deadlock within six months.

I do consider that we are now in an inter-institutional precarious situation. For that
reason I would ask you, also on behalf of the rapporteur, in agreement and mandated by
the Shadows of the different political groups to co-sign the attached letter addressed to
the Commission and the Council. '

Yours sincerely,

 

Iratxe García Pérez
Chair

 

 Jean-Claude JUN CKER Mr Frans TIMNIERMANS

President of the European Commission First Vice-President of the European Commission
Rue de la Loi, 200 Rue de la Loi, 200

B-1049 Brussels B-1049 Brussels

Belgium ' Belgium

Ms Véra JOUROVÁ Mr Uldis Augulis

Commissioner for Justice, Ministry of Welfare

Consumers and Gender Equality Skolas 28

Rue de la Loi, 200 ' Riga, Latvia

B-1049 Brussels

Belgium

Subject: Maternity Leave Directive

Dear Commission President,
Dear Commission Vice-President,
Dear Commissioner,

Dear Minister,

Since the beginning of this new legíslative term, the Parliament has stated on several occasions its
unequivocal willingness to engage with the Council and start negotiations on the maternity leave directive.
The Parliament is pragmatic, constructive and open to ﬁnd a satisfactory agreement for both institutions and
most importantly for European Citizens. The Parliament is convinced that the deadlock could be unblocked,
if all three institution show sufﬁcient political will. '

The Commission under your leadership indicated its intention to Withdraw the proposal if the co-Iegislators
do not ﬁnd a way out of the deadlock within six months. We urge the Commission to do its utmost in its role
of the "honest broker" and engage in constructive manner with the co-legislators with a view to reconciling
the positions of the Parliament and the Council, with due regard for the balance between the institutions and
the role conferred on it by the Treaty. To this end, we welcome First Vice' President Timmermans and
Commissioner Jourová’s commitment to engage the Commission, as expressed during the interinstitutional
breakfast in Strasburg the 10th of March. We would appreciate you indicating the concrete steps the A
Commission intends to undertake further in this regard. .

We also do underline that the explanation for the withdrawal stipulating that there will be no agreement in
Council, is .questionable. Firstly, itgignores the signals of the willingness to ﬁnd a balanced compromise
based on the current proposal and the work done so far on this ﬁle that the Parliament has sent repeatedly
both to the Commission and the Council. Secondly, the exclusive consideration of the position of one
Chamber leads to an unacceptable institutional imbalance, between co-legislators and has the effect of
underscoring the democratic deﬁcit of the European Union.

We reiterate that Parliament considers the adoption of this Directive during this new legislative term a

priority and we count on the Commission as a strong ally in the attempt to unblock the current deadlock and
to jointly progress on this ﬁle.

Yours sincerely,

Martin Schulz e ‘ Maria Arena
President of the European Parliament Rapporteur