Joel Hasse Ferreira, deputising for the draftsman of the opinion of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs. – (PT) Mrs Madeira has tried to ensure real equality for pregnant workers and any women of childbearing age in terms of accessing and remaining in the labour market. Ladies and gentlemen, women are frequently faced with a choice between professional life and family life, particularly on the issue of motherhood, which ends up preventing them from feeling like complete individuals in terms of their physical and mental health. We must therefore adopt an approach which is not prejudicial to the rights and protection of women, in line with the European social model. We should also like to include parental leave in this framework, which, as we have seen, was not the choice of the Commission.

Commissioner, anyone who spends 18 weeks out of the workplace needs special training on resuming their work in order to maintain their legitimate career prospects and prevent them from suffering a double penalty in their professional life. We therefore need to ensure the following: their job must be protected for 12 months so that they can reorganise their domestic life on returning to work, training and new routines. The increase from six to twelve months is therefore simply good sense. It is vital that each Member State legislates on the rights of self-employed women, and this is therefore a clear political signal to which we should like the Commission to react.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, this adjustment in working hours after birth should not be the exclusive right of women, as the spouse, partner or parent should also be able to request this from their employer. This proposal is very important and must be monitored by regulators in the Member States. Finally, ladies and gentlemen, we believe that this approach is more consistent with the European social model to which we aspire. This issue is not just about women; it is also about society.