The European Parliament finally backed (443 votes to 192 with 58 abstentions), on Thursday 25 November, the negotiating mandate of co-rapporteurs Dennis Radtke (EPP, Germany) and Agnes Jongerius (S&D, Netherlands) on the Directive on adequate minimum wages.
“After the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs approved our report on European minimum wages, the plenary now paves the way for negotiations. (This is a) strong mandate for Agnes Jongerius and me”, Mr Radtke said on Twitter.
“The European Parliament supports our proposal to increase the minimum wage!”, Ms Jongerius said, also on Twitter, indicating that MEPs will be able to start “working” with the EU Council, hoping that the two institutions will agree on an “ambitious” directive.
In the Scandinavian ranks, however, the mood was more sombre. “Really depressing that we lost the battle in Sweden over who should decide on the lowest wages. Brussels will not fix Swedish salaries!”, said Sweden’s Abir Al-Sahlani (Renew Europe) on her Twitter account.
The Scandinavian delegations had in fact joined together to question, at the beginning of the plenary session, the mandate found earlier in the month at the level of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (see EUROPE 12831/19), not because they were opposed to the principles of reinforcing minimum wages, they say, but in order to preserve their national social model, which is based entirely on negotiation between social partners.
Thus, Scandinavians represented a large contingent of those who opposed the text. An analysis of the votes shows that the EPP group (despite the fact that one of the co-rapporteurs came from its ranks), Renew Europe, the ECR and ID were split between supporters and opponents of the European Parliament mandate. Many Germans and Spaniards from the EPP voted against the mandate.
In the EU Council, ambassadors to the EU approved, on Wednesday 24 November at the meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives I, the latest proposal of the Slovenian Presidency of the EU Council. Only Denmark voted against the new compromise (see EUROPE 12839/22). The fact that Sweden did not oppose this has angered many of the Swedish MEPs.
The Employment and Social Policy Council of the EU (EPSCO) is expected to adopt a general approach on 6 or 7 December.
To see the Parliament’s position: https://bit.ly/3HT3yhK
To see the EU Council’s position: https://bit.ly/3oSHj2B (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)