Brussels, 13/09/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 12 September, the European Parliament employment and social affairs committee held a public hearing on the “role of minimum wages/income for social inclusion in the EU”. MEPs and experts on the subject analysed the situation in the 27 member Union under the chairmanship of Swedish Socialist Jan Andersson. What is the role of the state and that of social partners when it comes to fixing the minimum wage? Is there an added value at European level? Can one foresee a common minimum wage in the Union? Would a minimum wage play a role in preventing poverty? These are just some of the questions that participants tried to answer. During the debate, MEPs appealed for the future treaty to aim more at combating poverty and generally called for the setting in place, in Europe, of a real policy for minimum wage coordination. The European Commission, for its part, announced a communication for mid-October on the minimum wage and on the integration into the world of employment of persons excluded from the labour market. The communication will then be discussed at the Employment/Social Affairs Council on 5 December in Brussels.
Isabella Biletta (European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, Dublin) presented the results of studies carried out on the minimum wage situation in the EU27 during the period 2004-2007 (http://www.eurofound.ie ). Results show that: (1) The 27 EU nations apply the minimum wage principle; (2) compulsory (therefore legal) minimum wages exist in 20 EU member states, ranging from €92 per month in Bulgaria to €1,570 per month in Luxembourg in 2007 (according to Eurostat figures for January 2007). These 20 States are: Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia and the United Kingdom. In the remaining seven member states, a minimum income is foreseen in collective agreements. Ms Biletta noted that some countries have minimum earnings according to the kind of person employed, for example young workers. She also pointed out that the principle of a minimum wage also exists in Japan and the United States.
Chiara Adonella Crepaldi (Institute for Social Research, IRS, Milan), who is the author of a study on the role of minimum income in social inclusion in the EU, set out figures concerning the socio-economic context (site: http://www.irs-online.it ): (1) the poverty index is the highest for women, children, single parent families with several children, and persons over the age of 75; (2) the poverty index for the elderly and old remained almost stationary (between 15% and 16%) between 1995 and 2005 but poverty increased over the same period by 2% in Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Finland (and fell by 2% in Portugal); (3) the impact of social benefit transfers (except for retirement pensions) on the risk of poverty varies from 12% in Greece to 70% in Sweden; and (4) in the Netherlands, €354 per capita are spent to combat social exclusion in the form of social benefits, compared to €11 in Italy. The EU's role in harmonising minimum income measures could be to promote policies for coordination, exchange and partnership between member states and also to define major objectives, etc. Ms Crepaldi said a better understanding of social inclusion would be promoted through common indicators.
Madi Sharma (European Economic and Social Committee, Employers Group, UK) then took the floor to present the content of a Committee opinion on minimum social standards and the fight against poverty, to be adopted by EESC plenary in October 2007. Combating poverty is not a priority in the new casting of the Lisbon strategy, she said regretfully In order to eliminate poverty, all policies must be linked (access to education, housing and services), she said.
During the debate, Harald Ettl (PES, Austria) considered it important that, in the future treaty, there should be a declaration to indicate that social dialogue concerns not only the economic sector but also the workers. Sepp Kussttatscher (Greens/EFA, Italy) said the treaty must fix a clearer objective to fight against poverty. In order to have measures in 27 countries, he went on, greater harmonisation is needed between tax policies and social policies. If there is a minimum income, does that have the impact of exclusion for persons wanting to integrate the labour market?, asked Thomas Mann (EPP-ED, Germany). Richard Falbr (PES, Czech Republic) highlighted the issue of controlling hours worked compared to the work contract signed. Gabriele Stauner (EPP-ED, Germany) felt that there was necessarily a link between minimum income and unemployment pay and social benefits. Rather than speak of minimum wage, Mary Lou McDonald (EPP-ED, Ireland) preferred to speak of “survival” wage. “Minimum wage and minimum income - we've got both in the UK”, said Elizabeth Lynne. The minimum wage has created more jobs, she
noted, encouraging the member states that do not have this system to adopt it. Gabriele Zimmer (GUE/NGL, Germany) called for agreement on a minimum income throughout the EU with criteria for establishing such a policy to avoid, as is the case in Germany, having to pay more and more social support to compensate. After the presentation by Jean Spautz (EPP-ED, Luxembourg) of the Luxembourg system which, he said, works well and has the permanent involvement of social partners, Masiel Tadeusz (NA, Poland) said that what Europe can contribute is a “good law, a good example and good social norms”. “We need a real coordination policy in Europe in order to have a minimum income social policy”, said Anne Van Lancker (PES, Belgium). Finally, Jan Andersson (PES, Sweden) said “what is essential is to have a social security and retirement system that works (…) I do not believe in a European minimum wage - as conditions between countries vary too much!” (gb)