Ms. Ana Mendes Godinho
Mr. Hubertus Heil
Dear Presidency and former Presidency
On 28 October 2020, the Commission presented proposal for a Directive on adequate
minimum wages in the European Union.
The German Presidency has, albeit extraordinarily difficult times during the COVID-19
pandemic, managed to lead the work in the Council with efficiency and excellence. With regard
to the minimum wage dossier, it has been much appreciated that the fundamental question
concerning legality has been taken seriously and addressed early by the Presidency. Member
States are now awaiting the written opinion of the Council Legal Service on the compatibility
of the Commission proposal with the Treaties. We consider that the opinion of the Legal
Service will be important to the Member States in their analysis of the proposed directive. The
opinion will also be of interest for other parties, in particular the social partners. Normally
written opinions of the Legal Service are only available upon request to others. If it is decided
to make the opinion of the Legal Service public on this dossier we believe that it would also be
helpful in order for Member States to explain and anchor their analyses.
The proposal has the intention to respect our wage formation systems and the autonomy of
the social partners. Although the proposed directive is presented as a framework with different
solutions for different labour market models, we will need clarifications of the text to proceed
with our analysis. We feel that a recommendation is a better legal instrument, which provides
the flexibility for Member States to achieve the objectives of the proposal. Whatever form, any
EU action needs of course to respect the boundaries of the Treaties.
Finally, we would like to share our view on the implementation of the European pillar of social
rights that should respect national competences and the principle of subsidiarity under the
current EU Treaties. It must be secured that long existing, well-functioning and balanced
national social systems can continue working with their respective different policy mixes.
We thank you all for the work so far and we wish to ensure you of our willingness to closely
collaborate on this important dossier.
Sincerely yours,