On 11 December 2020, EFEE participated in the Extraordinary Social Affairs Board (SAB) meeting of SGI Europe (formerly known as CEEP). The only topic on the agenda of the day was the EU Proposal for a Directive on Adequate Minimum Wage, which was introduced on 28 October 2020. In light of the controversy surrounding the legal basis of this initiative, SGI Europe invited Professor Emanuele Menegatti (Professor of Labour Law and Dean of the School of Economics and Management at the University of Bologna) to present his perspective and analysis of the Proposal. In his presentation, Prof. Menegatti clearly identified that the European Union does not have the competence to introduce a Directive on this specific topic as well as highlighted the overall vague and flawed (legal) reasoning of the Explanatory Memorandum to the Proposal. His overall presentation made clear that it would be more suitable to publish this initiative as a Recommendation, seeing as the introduction of a Directive would impose too much on the competences of collective bargaining and the autonomy of social partners. Moreover, Prof. Menegatti stated that such a legal basis would either deprive article 153 TFEU of its content or make a Directive so vague that it will provide nothing and therefore be ineffective. Nevertheless, it was noted that while the European Pillar of Social Rights (more precisely Pillar 6) is not legally binding and can therefore not serve as a legal basis, it does provide political support to this initiative. It is therefore likely that the Directive will be pushed through nonetheless, which could set a dangerous precedent for the future. The Proposal is currently undergoing legal evaluation, which is set to be concluded before the end of the year.
For more details, please contact isaline.ossieur@educationemployers.eu