Dutch MEP Agnes Jongerius (S&D) is, together with German MEP Dennis Radtke (EPP), co-rapporteur on the Directive on adequate minimum wages, which the European Parliament largely approved on 14 September (see EUROPE 13021/22). For EUROPE, she talks about the concrete effects of the Directive for European workers and about Ursula von der Leyen’s State of the Union speech, which disappointed her. (Interview by Solenn Paulic)
Agence Europe - The European Parliament has largely approved the Directive on adequate minimum wages; how will it change workers’ lives?
Agnes Jongerius - First of all, we are asking Member States to assess whether or not working people in that country can live off this minimum wage (the Directive does not oblige Member States without a minimum wage to have one, editor’s note). They will have to do a minimum wage adequacy test and can use a basket of goods and services that each household should be able to buy, such as the ability to pay rent, energy bills or children’s schooling.
It’s also important that the minimum wage is keeping pace with the other wages in Member States. The minimum wage should be set at 60% of gross median earnings and 50% of gross average earnings.
It is also about increasing the level of workers covered by collective agreements. We know that in countries with high coverage rates, income is much more evenly divided. Each country will have to make an action plan so that at least 80% of workers are covered by a collective agreement.
In Austria, the rate is very high. In the Czech Republic we are talking about 30%. We therefore call on the Member States to sit down with their employers’ organisations and trade unions to draw up a plan as soon as possible.
Can we already tell which workers in which countries will experience a strong rebound in the legal minimum wage? We are talking about a 20% increase with this directive.
I don’t know the basket of goods and services of all the Member States, which are all different in terms of purchasing power, but for the Netherlands, the minimum wage will have to rise from €10.48 to €14, whereas it will only rise from €10 to €11 on the 1 January! And, with the current inflation, the figures will also change.
So far, at least, only four Member States already tick these adequacy criteria: France, Portugal, Slovenia and Bulgaria.
Many MEPs want the directive to apply now, not in two years’ time. Is this possible?
The European Parliament cannot force the move, but Belgium, for example, has already announced that it will not wait.
This is a new political battle and also the battle of the trade unions: convincing governments that the directive must be implemented now.
An appeal from the Commission to the Member States would also help, as there is a risk in not tackling the problem of purchasing power now.
This directive is in any case an important symbol, because during the banking crisis, economic or financial experts were advocating cuts in the minimum wage, less coverage through collective bargaining. I think Europe is cooking from a different recipe now.
Did Ursula von der Leyen convince you on Wednesday?
We have been pushing for months to make the SURE instrument (to support Member States’ unemployment systems) permanent. I had hoped for an announcement, but there was nothing. So we have to keep pushing.
There are SMEs that are suffering and the only thing that is said is that we are going to make a package with less administrative burden. I don’t think this is the biggest problem for the small village bakery that has to pay its energy bills.
And while it is good that the Commission mentions the extreme profits of energy companies, there are no hard and fast rules on how this money will reach people.
The Commission will soon present a recommendation on minimum income and negotiations on the Social Climate Fund will also start in October...
A recommendation on minimum income, it sounds nice, but I don’t think this is helpful for people who have problems in paying their bills because then a recommendation can also be ignored. We are still pushing for a social summit, which the Czech Prime Minister has promised.
The Social Climate Fund, on the other hand, is important, but will only be effective in a few years and will it be sufficient? It will not do the trick with the present inflation and energy prices.