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The definition of a “fair and decent” European minimum wage promises to be the most difficult battle in the negotiation of the Social Pillar action plan, which Portugal wants to see approved during its presidency of the European Union (EU).
The European Commission, which presented its legislative proposal in this regard in October, is aware of the difficulties and has insisted that it does not want to impose values on countries, but rather indicators, criteria and objectives that ensure a decent quality of life for workers, compatible with the standard of living in the country where they work.
The issue immediately raises legal doubts because, although it does not seek to harmonize the values of minimum wages in Europe, it presses an increase in the minimum wage in the countries that have determined it by law.
The treaties recognize the competence of each member state in setting wages, but the Commission relies on a flexible interpretation that integrates wages into working conditions, which for some lawyers, if it is a directive, will result in interference in national powers. .
Currently, 21 Member States have a statutory minimum wage, while in the remaining six (Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Italy and Sweden), it only exists through collective bargaining. It is mainly these six countries that are opposed to the concept.
Against the proposal are also the business associations, who argue that it may endanger the viability of European companies, already heavily affected by the pandemic crisis of Covid-19. Brussels completely discards the idea of an equal minimum wage for 27.
Introducing the proposal, Nicolas Schmit, Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, stressed that the goal is “upward convergence” and underlined that “almost 10% of EU workers live in poverty, and this has to change, since people who have work should not suffer to make ends meet “.
The commissioner referred to the so-called “poverty at work”, which in some Member States translates into a minimum wage that, after taxes, is below the agreed threshold of risk of poverty and social exclusion – 50% of the average wage – which in 2018 affected almost 10% of EU workers, two thirds of whom were women.
Speaking to Lusa in September, Nicolas Schmit pointed to another priority: “The minimum wage should allow us to have a decent life, but it is also something we have to do for fair competition in Europe. We cannot base competition on wage dumping and low wages. It is not the correct way ”.
“The idea of having a fair and effective minimum wage for each country, obviously depending on the economic and financial circumstances of each country and its labor system, would be very important,” said, in September, the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Ana Paula. Zacharias.
Despite admitting that this goal “is not easy”, the minister hopes that during the Portuguese presidency it will be possible “a consensus around these ideas that will be fundamental for the future.”
But the European minimum wage is only one of the instruments of the future action plan of the Pillar of Social Rights, which Portugal wants to be approved at the Social Summit on 7 and 8 May in Porto. The objective is to approve a program with concrete measures to implement the European Social Pillar, a non-binding text of 20 principles to promote social rights in Europe approved in Gothenburg (Sweden) in November 2017.
The text advocates a fairer and more efficient functioning of labor markets and social protection systems, specifically in terms of equal opportunities, access to the labor market, social protection, medical care, lifelong learning, vital balance. professional and family life and equal pay for men and women.
The European Commission is preparing its proposed action plan and should formally present it in January or February, with the Portuguese presidency in charge of leading the debate and negotiating a compromise among the 27 that will allow an agreement to be “closed” in May.
The European executive has promised an “ambitious action plan” that “will prevent the economic and health crisis from becoming a social crisis” and will guarantee “that no one is left behind during the European recovery.”
“For me, the social dimension is an indispensable pillar of our EU and I know that in this, as in other matters, Portugal is on my side,” said the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in an interview with Lusa in September.
