The European Union has reached an agreement on the minimum wage. “Agreement on the minimum wage,” says the twitter account of the Social Affairs Commission of the European Parliament.
The agreement on the EU directive, which came at the end of a meeting that lasted several hours in the middle of the night, had the French presidency of the EU among its main sponsors, which now sees the definitive approval of the text for the end of this month, which will also mark the end of his current presidency. Now the plenary of the Parliament will have to be expressed with a take or leave vote, then ratification by the EU Council and reception by the individual member states will follow.
The directive does not require changing existing national systems, but while respecting the differences in labor market models between the different Member States, it establishes a procedural framework to promote “adequate and fair” minimum wages across the EU. Member States should set their statutory minimum wages and assess their adequacy according to a set of clear and stable criteria and the amount should be updated periodically.
Within the EU, the minimum wage is already a reality in 21 of the current 27 Member States. The amount varies from country to country, calculated on a national basis. It starts from Bulgaria, where you cannot go below the price of 332 euros (Sofia still does not have a single currency). This is the lowest pillar in the Union. At the other extreme is Luxembourg, with € 2,257. In total, there are eight countries where the threshold of € 1,000 is exceeded: Slovenia (€ 1,074), Spain (€ 1,126), France (€ 1,603), Germany (€ 1,621), Belgium (€ 1,658), the Netherlands (€ 1,725), Ireland (1,775 euros). There is talk of contracts for employees and gross of tax and social security contributions. There is no statutory level in Italy, Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland and Sweden. In Italy, however, a national collective bargaining system is envisaged. A statutory minimum wage is also found in Albania, Montenegro, Serbia and North Macedonia.