Filenews 4 November 2021
The Plenum of the Parliament unanimously passed the laws for the extension of maternity leave from the second child, which will apply from the moment of their publication to mothers who are already on maternity leave. 46 Members voted in favour.
Specifically, with the laws passed, maternity leave is increased from 18 to 22 weeks for the second child and to 26 weeks from the third child and for all children that will follow. The increase in maternity leave concerns all cases of having a child by childbirth, adoption or surrogacy.
The President of the Working Committee, AKEL MP Andreas Kafkalias said that the bill is a step in the right direction, however as noted by all parties and interested organizations it has a weakness since it does not include the first child. He called on the executive to come back to this issue. At the same time, he said that this measure is not capable of upsetting the facts regarding the reconciliation of family and professional life and that Cyprus in this area is second from the end, according to a UNICEF survey. He added that much remains to be done in terms of introducing parental leave, child and single-parent benefits, subsidising care costs and expanding and strengthening state structures.
DISY MP Onoufrios Koullas said that the bill is in the right direction, but it is not the only one that has been done in recent years. He added that no one said that this bill would solve all our problems. The main goal of the bill, he said, is to facilitate the working mother, while as he said about the demographic there is much more that needs to be done besides that.
At the same time, he noted that actuarial studies were carried out for the adoption of this measure and it is important that the measure is taken without increasing the cost to employees and businesses.
In his address to the Plenum, DIKO MP Zacharias Koulias stressed that they support this expansion, but the low birth rate as a matter of national security is not addressed with permits. He added that the state cannot take away all benefits from families with many children and, with "a ploy", he said, extend maternity leave. He called for the benefits deducted to be reinstated and for the birth of each child to be subsidised with a respectable amount. He called on the state to take this national problem seriously.
DIKO MP Panicos Leonidou said that this amendment strengthens motherhood and the demography of the country, but the measures to be taken must be comprehensive and targeted to help young couples. He also said they should look at specific issues concerning rural couples.
DIKO MP Chrysanthos Savvidis said that if we really want to help the birth rate, this is not done with this decision, while he noted that years ago the additional student sponsorship was removed from the fourth children.
ELAM MP Linos Papagiannis said that although the bill is in the positive direction no couple will proceed with the birth of a child because the leave will be increased. He stressed the need for financial incentives since, as he said, when they were offered in 1990 they led to a doubling of the birth rate. He added that both state structures and subsidies are necessary. He also said that measures should be taken yesterday, since at the pace we are going and given the increase in immigration in a little while "we will not be the majority in Cyprus".
EDEK MP Andreas Apostolou said that the bill is in the right direction and that the Minister did much more than her predecessors on this issue. He added that the competent Working Committee did its best to bring the bill directly to plenary and to benefit mothers who are already on leave and called on the Government to publish the law immediately after its passage. At the same time, he said that the measure is not enough for this state to support young parents and mothers, since it needs upgrading and modernization of structures such as all-day school, the creation and subsidy of nurseries, the guarantee of the minimum wage for young people and young people and access to affordable housing and rent.
The MP of the Movement of Ecologists - Citizens' Cooperation Alexandra Attalidou, said that maternity leave is a vital element for ensuring a balance of family and professional life, but it is not enough and for this reason there is a huge gap in men's and women's pay and pensions, since women do not participate on equal terms in economic life. He spoke of the need for structures, flexible working hours, understanding by employers, measures, as she said, that will solve the hands of parents and that women can integrate on an equal footing into the labour market and not be left behind.
