Minimum salary. EU directive approved
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The European Parliament has finally approved the Directive on adequate minimum wages in the EU, which aims to ensure the right to a fair pay for all workers, guaranteeing them and their families a decent standard of living. (1)
What the Minimum Wage Directive provides
According to the proposal of the Directive, the determination of the minimum wage ceiling under which it will not be possible to go can be established either at legislative level or through collective bargaining and each Member State will have to determine it according to precise criteria, which will have to take into account the cost of living and the broadest levels salary.
Areas of intervention
Adequacy of the minimum wage
Member States, which already provide for legal minimum wages, will have to assess their adequacy, determining a basket of goods and services at real prices or setting it at 60% of the median gross wage and 50% of the average gross wage. Furthermore, they will have to update the legal minimum wages at least every two years (or at the latest every four years for those countries that use an automatic indexing mechanism), with the involvement of the social partners in their respective definition and updating procedures.
Collective bargaining
The EU countries they will have to strengthen collective bargaining, as an essential factor for the protection of workers. Member States where less than 80% of the workforce is protected by a collective agreement will have to together with the social partners establish an action plan to increase this percentage and periodically inform the European Commission on the measures taken.
Monitoring and controls
Member States they will have to adopt tools for collecting and communicating data relating to wages, in order to monitor the adequacy of the protection guaranteed by the minimum treatment, both from legal and contractual sources. In addition, they will be required to carry out checks and inspections in the field, to combat abusive subcontracting, bogus self-employment, unregistered overtime or increased work intensity.
Disputes and sanctions
National authorities they will be required to guarantee access by workers to an effective and impartial dispute resolution system, as well as to provide for a deterrent sanctioning system in the event of violations on the matter.
To whom it will apply
The new directive will apply to all EU workers with an employment contract or relationship.
Current framework
In the European Union 21 states already have a national minimum wage, with the exception of Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Italy, which are based on a structured collective bargaining system.
The national minimum wages expected vary widely in the monthly amount. Based on the recent statistics published by Eurostat in July 2020, the "minimum wage”(Minimum salary), ranged between € 332 per month in Bulgaria and € 2.257 in Luxembourg. The quota of 1.000 euros is not exceeded in 13 countries, including the East, the Baltics, Greece, Portugal and remains between 1.000 and 1.500 in Slovenia and Spain. (2)
Next steps
The member countries of the EU will have two years - once the provision has been published in the EU Official Journal - to adapt to the European dictates and establish this instrument.
Conclusions
The it is a sign of European political will towards the regulation of the minimum wage and represents a strengthening of the right to a fair wage, while respecting the autonomy of the social partners and the peculiarities of national systems.
It is desirable that the compromise reached can lead to greater social convergence between Member States, as well as to the reduction of poverty and wage inequalities.
Note
(1) AG (europa.eu) https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/commissions/empl/inag/2022/06-20/EMPL_AG(2022)734121_EN.pdf
(2) Minimum_wages_highlight_FP2020-EN.png (1005 × 829) (europa.eu) 
Attorney at law in Milan and Frankfurt am Main. An expert in family, juvenile and criminal law, she is now enrolled in a university master's degree in food law
