“It is absolutely necessary”, reacts on franceinfo Sandro Gozi, MEP Renaissance – RenewEurope, group of the presidential majority. A final agreement on the directive on minimum wages within the European Union is expected on the night of Monday 6 to Tuesday 7 June. “It’s been a Renaissance priority since the Europeans in 2019”, emphasizes Sandro Gozi. Emmanuel Macron has also made this directive one of the priorities of the French presidency of the Council of the European Union (PFUE), which will end on June 30.
>> INFOGRAPHICS. How the minimum wage is increasing in several European countries
In the current context where the purchasing power of Europeans is declining, it is a “duty to intervene at European level alongside the most vulnerable”, believes Sandro Gozi. He recalls that “minimum wages do not exist in several countries. One, I know it well, is Italy, the other is the Scandinavian countries. They are not governed by law but by agreements between social partners also linked to competitiveness.”
The MEP hopes that this agreement will succeed because “the objective is that all workers have decent wages in the European area”because according to him “this is also social Europe.”
Regarding the motion of no confidence triggered against Boris Johnson in the United Kingdom, Sandro Gozi believes that “the vote of no confidence itself is a major political act”. The MEP does not advance on the outcome of this vote because “the internal dynamics of the Conservative Party are difficult to grasp”. On the one hand, he considers that there is a “real risk” for Boris Johnson because “the vote is secret” and that there is “an additional margin of risk for someone who is explicitly criticized by 54 of his MPs”. On the other hand, “it must also be said that there is a very large majority of Conservative MPs who have positions in government, who are linked” to the British Prime Minister.
Be that as it may, Sandro Gozi thinks that this motion of no confidence will “weaken” Boris Johnson because “his leadership is formally questioned by 55 parliamentarians” of his party. Then, the MEP underlines that the former Prime Minister “Theresa May won the vote of confidence but it didn’t go well for her afterwards.” Sandro Gozi believes that he does not “is not up to wish the departure or not of Boris Johnson”. On the other hand, he “Wish there was a prime minister who was cooperative with France, with the European Union. And let’s say that with Boris Johnson, that hasn’t always been the case.”
Finally, when asked about Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s comments on the police, Sandro Gozi judged that it was “a provocation” from the deputy La France insoumise. “It’s nonsense. Someone who wants to become Prime Minister should not throw oil on the fire”, adds the MEP. According to him, “You need restraint and checking the facts. Politicians must not fan the fire and must manage complicated situations like this which is very serious and tragic”. Sandro Gozi believes that Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s remarks are not “a good service to cohesion in France.”