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José António Vieira da Silva, former Minister of Labor and advisor to the European Commission for social rights during the Portuguese presidency of the EU, in the first half of 2021, underlines, in an interview with Lusa, that “the symbolic value of being a European directive is a relevant value ”, because“ it becomes European legislation ”.
“The possibility of not existing [salário mínimo] today it exists in a European country, in the EU. Why? Because the legal instrument that exists is a recommendation and the recommendation is followed, or not, by the countries. What changes is that it will no longer be a recommendation, ”he says, referring to the proposed directive on the framework of a European minimum wage, one of the instruments of the Action Plan of the Pillar of Social Rights that Portugal hopes to see approved under his presidency .
The counselor underlines that countries such as the United Kingdom or Germany “only agreed to a minimum wage a few decades ago”, in an EU where “most countries have minimum wages”, but “which are established through very different processes.”
“There are countries where the government decrees them, there are countries where the government decides them in consultation with the social partners, this is the case of Portugal, there are countries where the social partners are fixing it, and there are countries where collective bargaining takes place. […] that sets minimum wages sector by sector ”, he lists.
“The directive advanced by the European Commission does not question national diversity and this is a very critical point,” he underlines, adding that “the solution that has already been found in the European Pillar of Social Rights” is “the coexistence of different models ”.
What changes, he underlines, is to become a directive, “because the symbolic value of being a European directive is a relevant value: it becomes European legislation.”
“An agreement is politically much stronger. Having an agreement means that there is a commitment from all parties to make the minimum wage a development tool ”, he points out, after explaining that an agreement will be based on a directive, which,“ although it allows different forms ”of fixing, obliges everyone countries to have a minimum wage mechanism ”.
Then the value. The value will not be the same for everyone. As it is not today.
The directive will not impose a value for the minimum wage in the Member States – “there are still minimum wages of 300 euros and minimum wages of 1200” – but will define a framework for the minimum wage based on indicators, criteria and objectives that ensure quality. decent living for workers, compatible with the standard of living in the country where they work.
Aware that reaching a compromise between the 27 will be difficult, Vieira da Silva relies on the “Portuguese tradition” of “building bridges”.
“Because we have, in some respects, characteristics that bring us closer to the less developed economies and, on the other hand, we have stronger political and economic traditions and links with the more developed countries” of the EU, he adds.
“Therefore, we have many files, I could mention several in recent years, in which Portugal played an important role, more important than its own dimension, because it can speak the language of both sides, it can speak the language of rights, but also the language of risk perception ”, he highlights.
It refers in particular to the experience of Portugal, in which “the minimum wage was set in 1974 or 1975”, although only in 2016 was there an agreement between the social partners, “the first time that everyone agreed on a trajectory and a value concrete growth ”.
“It means that it is possible,” he concludes, admitting that the “multiparty” nature of this Commission, whose formation was based on “an agreement of several political families,” may well mean “that one of the points of this agreement went through advances in this plan among the various political families ”.
Vieira da Silva admits that, after presenting the Commission’s proposal, Portugal still does not know “in what stage” of the negotiation it will receive the dossier from the German presidency, but considers that the minimum wage directive is not the greatest challenge in the social agenda, chosen as “the heart” of the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU.
“The biggest challenge, even in the terms in which it is written, is for the European institutions to endorse, ‘endorse’, the Action Plan”, which “will incorporate into initiatives” the 20 principles of the Pillar of Social Rights “”. focused on the issue of the right to work, combating discrimination and improving social protection ”, he adds.
“The ambition of the Portuguese presidency […] is that the Social Summit [Porto, 07 e 08 de maio] will be a time when this is done […] ratification, in which the institutions – the European Parliament, the President of the European Commission, the President of the Council, the social partners, desirably, civil society organizations, can come together around this action plan, ”he says.
The objective is “to make a deep convergence of all the institutional, political and social forces of the European Union to enhance the social dimension of the European Union”.
“This was already important. In the situation we live in, the importance is greater ”, he says, referring to the profound economic and social impact of the pandemic.
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