22/09/2021 (Agence Europe) – More than 2.7 million people in the EU will be unable to afford heating this winter, according to a study published by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) on Wednesday 22 September. This corresponds to about 15% of the working poor in the EU. The highest rate is in Cyprus (45.6%), followed by Bulgaria (42.8%) and Lithuania (34.5%). The largest increases in energy poverty were recorded in Croatia (16.5 percentage points since 2009), Cyprus (10) and Lithuania (7.9). Therefore, the ETUC calls on the European Parliament to introduce a real decency threshold in the framework of the Directive for statutory minimum wages (see EUROPE 12795/17), which could never be lower than 60% of the median wage and 50% of the national average wage (at present, 20 Member States do not reach this level). (PH)