Can there be a European minimum wage?
(Archives) The question of the minimum wage in Europe is one of the elements of the debate during the European electoral campaign. Point
Is a minimum wage compulsory in the EU?
No. No minimum wage is applicable throughout the European Union. Each State remains free, or not, to impose a minimum wage within its borders and to set the amount.
Which countries have a minimum wage in place?
Most European countries (22 out of 27) have introduced a national minimum wage. Some States are more reluctant to a general solution. For example Germany, where the minimum wage is only compulsory in certain branches.
How much is the minimum wage?
It varies according to the country: between 100 and 350 euros in the countries of central Europe (112 euros in Bulgaria), between 500 and 700 euros in the Mediterranean countries (including Slovenia), and nearly 1200 euros or even more in the six Western countries (France, Benelux, Ireland, United Kingdom), the peak being reached in Luxembourg (more than 1600 euros). Compared to the average salary of the country, it however represents only 30 or 40% of the average salary in most of the countries of central Europe and in the United Kingdom. Between 40 and 50% in other countries.
Why is it so difficult to harmonize?
Establishing a minimum – even relative (as a percentage of the national average salary) appears politically difficult. Added to this is another difficulty, the European Treaty – the Treaty of Rome applicable today as well as the future Treaty of Lisbon – prohibits any harmonization of remuneration at European level. However, in 2007 the European Parliament demanded that each state be required to introduce a minimum wage.
When a company goes to work in another Member State is it obliged to respect the minimum wage in force?
Yes. It is the Posting of Work Directive which provides for this possibility. But there is only an obligation to respect the legal or conventional minimum (not the intermediate levels). In other words, you just have to pay an engineer… at minimum wage.
(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)
published in Ouest-France, May 2009
* Article which is part of a series of questions and answers ahead of the European elections
