Dennis RADTKE (EPP, DE) and Agnes JONGERIUS (S&D, NL), rapporteurs on the Minimum wage trialogue deal, hold a press conference in the European Parliament, in Strasbourg.

Press conference by Dennis RADTKE (EPP, DE) and Agnes JONGERIUS (S&D, NL), co-Rapporteurs on the Minimum wage trilogue deal

SOUNDBITE (English), Drago&#351; P&#206;SLARU (Renew, RO), Chair of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, Indeed what a night, and what a road and what an accomplishment. I would dare to start by saying that this is th European Union at its best: united in the feat and the pledge to protect the citizend that are in vulnerability. To fight against at-work poverty, to be there, especially in these dire times with crisis one after another, and it is very important to send this message that the European Parliament, the European Union, is not just about words, it's about facts, it's about things that we put forward in order to prove that social resilience is a reality, that the European Pillar of Social Rights is a reality. And I am really thrilled and enthusiastic to represent the Employment and Social Affairs Committee, and the European Parliament at large, with such an amazing team of rapporteurs, engaging with the Presidency, trying to reach, again, Europe at its best, a compromise that will work for people. 

SOUNDBITE (English), Drago&#351; P&#206;SLARU (Renew, RO), Chair of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, I would say that this is a very important moment for all the workers in the EU and it's important, again, because we are united to protect them, while acknowledging the diversity and the good practices that are in the European Union. And this is very important and I think it's a moment to cherish. Of course, we have a provisional agreement, we need to have this ratified, voted in the Committee and the plenary and of course approved by the Council, but I am very optimistic about it and I would like to congratulate the teams for their work, to thank the Commission for the initiative and also, very important, to thank the Secretariat and all the services in the Parliament that made that possible.  

SOUNDBITE (English), Agnes JONGERIUS (S&amp;D, NL), co-Rapporteur on the Minimum wage trilogue deal, I think it's fair to say that we were able to strike the right balance together with my co-raporteur, and I'd like to thank indeed all the shadows involved. Commissioner Schmit, also thanks for your help and the French presidency, because this is a group effort. But from this group effort, the workers are the biggest winners. So for shop stewards, for a parcel deliverers, for agricultural work, for people working in retail, this directive really can make a difference because adequate minimum wages must ensure a decent standard of living, reduce wage inequalities and contribute to upward social convergence.

SOUNDBITE (English), Agnes JONGERIUS (S&D, NL), co-Rapporteur on the Minimum wage trilogue deal, And I think this is what we strive for in Article 1 of this directive. And I think it's fair to say it's not a second too late with prices exploding for groceries, for rent, for the energy bills. There are too many people struggling to make ends meet. And this directive consists of two parts. Article 5 deals with the adequacy of statutory minimum wages. But then this is going to go into that topic. The other part is dealing with promoting collective bargaining, our own way, chatting throughout all of Europe. And in my view, in our view, being protected by a collective agreement is the best protection against in work poverty.

SOUNDBITE (English), Agnes JONGERIUS (S&D, NL), co-Rapporteur on the Minimum wage trilogue deal, So workers must be covered by collective bargaining more than now. We want to get a coverage rate of collective bargaining of 80 percent at least, and then you're below that. Member states should make a national action plan to progressively increase to this rate of 80 percent. And this will be with concrete measures and with involving of social partners. Article 9 on public procurement is supportive to this because if only the lowest price counts when awarding public contracts, you cannot be surprised that the collective bargaining coverage rate is not growing.

SOUNDBITE (English), Agnes JONGERIUS (S&D, NL), co-Rapporteur on the Minimum wage trilogue deal, Governments should finally realise that spending public money affects workers in their living and their working conditions. So collective bargaining on this setting is done by trade unions that settled in the definition we will protect workers. We will protect trade union representatives against discrimination when they wish to participate in collective bargaining on wage setting. And yes, we also respect national traditions. So we want to underline that member states where wage formation is exclusively done via collective agreements are not obliged to introduce a statutory minimum wage.

SOUNDBITE (English), Agnes JONGERIUS (S&D, NL), co-Rapporteur on the Minimum wage trilogue deal, I think to finish it all boils down to improving people's life. Workers should be able to buy new clothes, join a sports team or go on a holiday every now and then. In short, they should have a decent standard of living. And with this European law, we reduce wage inequalities, push for higher wages for Europe's lowest paid workers.

SOUNDBITE (German), Dennis RADTKE (EPP, DE), co-Rapporteur on the Minimum wage trilogue deal, Ladies and gentlemen, I'm very happy, but I'm also extremely tired. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the colleagues. And of course, I would like to thank our co-rapporteur and I would like to thank Nicholas Schmidt. I remember the first talks we had and I will reveal a small secret, when we talked about this directive the very first time you said, well, this is no Coca-Cola. It's rather Coke Lite or Coke Zero. And therefore we do have a Diet Coke, but with very strong taste. So we can be very grateful for that.

SOUNDBITE (German), Dennis RADTKE (EPP, DE), co-Rapporteur on the Minimum wage trilogue deal, And we would like to thank all our collaborators in these last few weeks. We we have violated all the agreements with regard to working hours, and now we have to see how are going to compensate this over time. But the results that we are presenting this morning is something that we can be proud of and this can truly, radically change the situation with regard to Article 5, which was discussed a great deal and also in the public opinion, because that was part of the European electoral campaign, the European Union can set very clear objectives of fifty or sixty percent as a figure, and the directive cannot prescribe certain definitive objectives. But we give very clear recommendations to our member states.

SOUNDBITE (German), Dennis RADTKE (EPP, DE), co-Rapporteur on the Minimum wage trilogue deal, We're saying to them minimum wage need to be adequate if they represent 60 percent of the of the average wage. And I would like to turn to our German colleagues in Germany at the moment. We're talking about the setting up of the minimum wage. And one of the problems there is that the debate and the Commission or in in the competent committee was very limited and the Germans did not make the most of what was at their disposal. Article 5 allows member states to have a framework to discuss adequately about the adequate minimum wage.

SOUNDBITE (German), Dennis RADTKE (EPP, DE), co-Rapporteur on the Minimum wage trilogue deal, Now, with regard to Article 6 and the variations, what differences may be allowed, we started from a very clear position. The minimum is a minimum and everything that is added to that fluctuations are a supplementary amounts, etc. We've seen that is a legitimate position from a political point of view, but we cannot reconcile that with the position of the European Union. So we always said, how are we going to manage this issue if we cannot solve the problem from a political point of view.

SOUNDBITE (German), Dennis RADTKE (EPP, DE), co-Rapporteur on the Minimum wage trilogue deal, So what we have clarified with this new Article 6 is that we have a clear framework which states what we want and we don't want in some member states that were concerns. If we are to introduce Article 6, this would become statutory, but this is not the case. This is not the case. We said in two of the new, we've said very clearly what we're driving at and what we don't want. Article 11 has not been mentioned so much, but it is very important in my view. It defines the right to and compensation to an indemnity if the workers are not paid on the basis of this directive. And that is a major step forward.

SOUNDBITE (English), Nicolas SCHMIT, European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Thank you very much to the Parliament for inviting me to this press conference, but especially a great thanks to the Chair of our committee, to the two rapporteurs and all those who have invested a lot of time, a lot of energy, a lot of innovation into this important project. You know, we have managed to pass from a principle, Principle six in the Pillar of Social Rights to a proposal, as Dennis has just said. And now we are very close to transform this proposal into an effective instrument to guarantee that which convergence, upward convergence in the European Union.

SOUNDBITE (English), Nicolas SCHMIT, European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, And I think this was a commitment from the beginning on of this Von der Leyen Commission to say minimum wage is a framework for minimum wages in Europe. This is what we want. And I think we are quite successful now. This morning and tonight, we managed to have a successful trialogue. Now, I want also to thank not only all those who have invested a lot of time. I especially want to thank the Slovenian presidency who managed to have the common position in the Council and now particularly the French presidency. We invested a lot of energy in coming to this agreement last night. So I think this is a clear and strong message to European citizens.

SOUNDBITE (English), Nicolas SCHMIT, European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, And I just want to recall, what do European citizens expect from us, from the Commission, from Parliament, from the Council? Well, in the proposals made in the Conference of the Future for the Future of Europe, one of the major proposals of this conference was adequate minimum wages in Europe. Nobody should be in poverty while working. And this is the right instrument to make sure that in work poverty should be something of the past.

SOUNDBITE (English), Nicolas SCHMIT, European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, And this corresponds also to our aim, the Commission's aim to have an economy that works for people. And this is not just a nice formula. This is something we have now to fill with very concrete measures. And I think this measure is very concrete. And I hope that at the end we will agree. And the Parliament that also in the Council with this is still an important step to take. But I am very optimistic that this step will be taken. Thank you.

Q&A, regarding the applicability of this new directive in countries where there is no legislation on minimum wage. Follow up, asking for examples of countries where the minimum wage will increase following the implementation of this directive.

Q&A, regarding the message sent to employers following this directive.

Q&A, about the impact of this directive in Italy.

Q&A, regarding the bindingness of this directive.

Q&A, on the Swedish position regarding the new directive.

Q&A, on the bindingness of this directive regarding the 80% bargaining figure. Follow up regarding the extent to which this directive will be binding in terms of harmonising the position of members states when it comes to minimum wages.

Press conference by Dennis RADTKE (EPP, DE) and Agnes JONGERIUS (S&D, NL), co-Rapporteurs on the Minimum wage trilogue deal

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