(07 June 2022) – The Commission welcomes the political agreement between the European Parliament and the EU Member States on the Directive on adequate minimum wages proposed by the Commission in October 2020.
The Directive establishes a framework for the adequacy of statutory minimum wages, promoting collective bargaining on wage setting, and enhancing the effective access of workers to minimum wage protection in the EU.
Minimum wage protection exists in all EU Member States, either through statutory minimum wages and collective agreements, or exclusively through collective agreements.
Ensuring that workers earn adequate wages is essential for improving their living and working conditions and for building fair and resilient economies and societies. Yet, some workers are affected by low adequacy and/or gaps in the coverage of minimum wage protection.
The new Directive aims to address this by establishing an EU framework to improve adequate minimum wage protection. This will be done in full respect of national traditions and competences as well as the autonomy of social partners.