“This is a major step forward for which France has fought for five years”, welcomed Clément Beaune, Minister Delegate for Europe. The representatives of the Parliament and of the European Council agreed, on the night of Monday 6 to Tuesday 7 June, on new European rules aimed at setting decent minimum wages in the various member countries. Will this agreement make it possible to set up a European minimum wage? When will it be applied? Will he change anything in France? Franceinfo recaps.
1What is this deal about?
The objective of the agreement is to improve the incomes of workers in the European Union, while fighting against social dumping within the EU, which allows certain companies to turn to countries with lower labor law plan to save money. To achieve this, the text does not set a uniform European minimum wage, but provides binding rules for the 21 member countries that already have a minimum wage, to encourage its increase. However, it does not require the introduction of a minimum wage in the six countries that do not have one and where income levels are determined by collective bargaining (Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Sweden).
The 21 States concerned by the agreement (including France) must first “assess whether their existing legal minimum wage is sufficient to ensure a decent standard of living”, taking into account in particular the question of purchasing power from a basket of goods and services at real prices, details the European Parliament in a press release. To establish the level of their minimum wage, governments will also be able to apply reference values, such as “60% of gross median salary” Where “50% of gross average salary”specifies the agreement.
Furthermore, the text provides that theMember States in which less than 80% of the workforce is covered by a collective agreement will have to create an action plan to gradually increase this coverage. Finally, countries should put in place controls to “ensure compliance with the provisions” of the agreement, as well as a right of appeal for workers whose rights have been violated.
2What is the current situation ?
The situation is very disparate in the 21 of the 27 EU countries that have a minimum wage. From 332 euros monthly in Bulgaria, the minimum wage can thus reach 2,202 euros in Luxembourg, according to 2021 data from Eurostat.
In France, the minimum wage climbed by 2.65% on May 1, after having already increased by 0.9% on January 1, and by 2.2% two months earlier, in October 2021. This is not however, not a boost decided by the government but automatic increases, provided for by law in the event of high inflation.
France has one of the best minimum wages on the continent, but it is gradually being caught up by its neighbors, as shown by this graph which compares the evolution of the minimum wage relative to the median wage of each country.
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For the year 2022, several governments have thus validated a significant increase in their minimum wage. In Germany, where it was only introduced in 2015, the minimum wage is expected to increase by 25% by October, from 9.82 euros to 12 euros per hour. The increase is expected to reach 7% in 2022 in the United Kingdom (which is no longer a member of the EU) and just under 4% in Spain.
3When will the agreement apply?
The political agreement reached by the European Parliament’s negotiating team is only provisional for the moment. It must now be approved by the Employment and Social Affairs Committee and then by a vote in plenary. The European Council, which brings together the Heads of State or Government of the Twenty-Seven, must also approve the agreement.
Sweden and Denmark warned on Tuesday that they would oppose the text. This should not prevent its adoption, which must be carried out by a qualified majority of States, and not unanimously.
4Will he change anything in France?
It’s unlikely. In France, the net monthly minimum wage has been 1,302.64 euros since May 1. This represents nearly 65% of the median salary, which in 2020 stood at 2,005 euros net, according to figures published at the end of April by INSEE.
Faced with the recent surge in prices, the government still plans to take measures other than an increase in the minimum wage. This will notably involve a bill on purchasing power which will be presented to the Council of Ministers “June 29” then submitted to Parliament “in stride”said government spokeswoman Olivia Grégoire in an interview with the Parisian May 30.
5What were the reactions?
French supporters of Emmanuel Macron in the European Parliament applauded this agreement with both hands, while France must return the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union at the end of June. They took the opportunity to tackle the New Popular Ecological and Social Union (Nupes) led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who plans to derogate from certain European rules, “in particular economic and budgetary”in order to be “able to apply [son] program”.
“Far from wanting to disobey Europe, we have chosen to change it from within, by convincing other pro-European forces to follow us.”
The Renaissance delegation to the European Parliamentin a press release
Asked by franceinfo, LFI MEP Leïla Chaibi considers that the agreement adopted last night “is more a matter of minimum service than minimum wage”. “The threshold of 60% of the median wage retained in the agreement to set a minimum wage is not binding, in addition to being largely insufficient. The risk is that Emmanuel Macron refuses to further increase the minimum wage by advancing the fact that there is nothing to complain about, because the minimum wage in France is a little above the threshold retained by Brussels”dreads the chosen one.
This position is not shared by all of the European left. In a press releasethe French delegation of the social and ecological left, made up of members of the Socialist Party and Place Publique, hailed “a magnificent socialist victory for social Europe”. “As inflation rages, our objective with this text is to make work pay, to ensure a decent standard of living, to reduce wage inequalities and to contribute to upward social convergence”she believes.