On Monday 14 June, the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union met with the European Ministers for Employment and Social Affairs to review progress on the proposal for a directive establishing European standards on pay transparency, which was presented by the European Commission in March (see EUROPE 12671/1).
Although most Member States welcomed the proposal in principle, all maintained a reservation on the draft directive as it stood.
Several delegations consider this proposal incompatible with national competences. This is related in particular to “the role of the social partners and social dialogue in setting and enforcing wages”, says a Presidency note.
On the other hand, other delegations expressed concerns about the practical consequences and the financial and administrative costs of the proposal, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Since March, five meetings of the EU Council Working Party on Social Issues have been held on this issue.
During these technical meetings, clarifications were sought from the European Commission, notably on issues such as the obligation to remind employees of their right to be informed about their pay and the option for employees to request information on average pay levels in the company.
Clarification was also sought on the employer’s obligation to prepare a pay assessment when a pay gap of at least 5% cannot be justified.
In addition, discussions focused on the 250-employee threshold - the threshold at which employers would be obliged to publish information on the pay gap between their female and male workers on an annual basis.
“Further technical work and discussions are still needed before deliberations on a general approach can begin”, the Portuguese Presidency concludes in its note.
‘Women on Boards’. This meeting of ministers was also an opportunity to take stock of the progress made under the Portuguese Presidency on a text also related to the promotion of gender equality, which has been blocked in the EU Council for almost ten years: the ‘Women on Boards’ directive, which aims to introduce a 40% requirement for women on the boards of directors of listed companies.
The Portuguese Presidency has taken up this issue - which was previously ignored by the German Presidency (see EUROPE 12581/14) - without much success. Lisbon, after re-launching the dialogue with the most reluctant delegations, could only note that a qualified majority remained out of reach.
In view of the priorities of the Slovenian Presidency presented to the Ministers today, it does not appear that Ljubljana is planning to relaunch discussions on this issue.
On the other hand, the future EU Council Presidency is expected to continue the work initiated on the directive on pay transparency. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)