The Swedish minister responsible for the directive on adequate minimum wages, Paulina Brandberg, said in an interview with the Swedish media on Wednesday 18 January that the government’s preliminary assessment was that Sweden “should join Denmark” in its appeal to annul the directive adopted in June (see EUROPE 13093/13).
“We believe that it is in Sweden’s interest as a Member State to very clearly defend the Swedish wage model, which we want to protect at all times”, explained the Minister for Gender Equality and Deputy Minister for Employment.
The Swedish social partners had argued for such a move after the Danish government announced in late December that it would challenge the directive in the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The Danish government has since taken this step and announced on 18 January that the case has been lodged with the CJEU.
Last week, Dutch MEP Agnes Jongerius (S&D), the European Parliament’s rapporteur on this dossier, called on Member States to “lose no more time” in implementing this directive, which notably extends the coverage of European workers by collective agreements (see EUROPE 13097/19). (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)