EU approves EU-wide legislation on adequate minimum wages

By Agnes Szucs

BRUSSELS (AA) – EU member states officially approved on Tuesday EU-wide rules on adequate minimum wages, granting a decent standard of living for all workers.

“The Council of the EU today gave its final green light to a directive that will promote the adequacy of statutory minimum wages and thus help to achieve decent working and living conditions for employees in Europe,” the EU institution representing member states explained in a press statement.

“When people have to penny-pinch because of the energy crisis, this law is a message of hope,” said Marian Jurecka, the Czech deputy prime minister and minister for labor and social affairs, welcoming the decision adopted under Czechia's chairmanship of the Council's turning presidency.

“Minimum wages and collective wage setting are powerful tools that can be used to ensure that all workers earn salaries that allow for a decent standard of living,” he added.

According to the new rules, EU countries need to measure if the existing lowest wage provides a decent standard of living compared to the country’s own economic situation, costs of living, and social conditions.

The statutory minimum wage should be adjusted at least every two years, and the legislation applies to all workers who have an employment contract or relationship in the EU.

Countries, where the minimum wage is exclusively protected by a collective bargaining agreement, are exempted from the new legislation.

The new EU law also promotes collective bargaining as it obliges EU states, where less than 80% is protected by a collective agreement, to set up a national action plan to support sectoral and cross-industry bargaining rights.

The countries are also required to create a system to inform workers, monitor the application of new rules by labor inspectorates, and develop capacities to enforce the legislation by non-complying employers.

The European Parliament already approved the legislation in September.

EU member states have two years to transpose the directive into national legislation after it officially enters into force.