Proposition 52K2199

Proposition de résolution visant à inscrire la question d'un salaire minimum situé au-dessus du seuil de pauvreté dans chaque pays européen à l'agenda de la présidence belge de l'Union européenne en 2010.

General information ¶

Authors

PS | SP Marie Arena, Philippe Blanchart, Camille Dieu, Guy Milcamps

Submission date

Oct. 14, 2009

Official page

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Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

European Union minimum pay resolution of parliament EU Council Presidency

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

Groen CD&V Vooruit Ecolo LE PS | SP Open Vld N-VA LDD MR FN VB

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Discussion ¶

April 1, 2010 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Minister, colleagues, the Social Affairs Committee discussed the proposal at its meetings on 16 and 23 March. Ms. Dieu, the main speaker of the text, explained the resolution at a first meeting. She pointed out that European harmonisation has led to progress primarily in economic and monetary terms and much less in social terms. As a result, many modal Europeans view Europe as a factor of instability in terms of their social rights rather than as an instrument to drive globalization into a good way.

The introduction of a minimum wage in all European Member States would counter the possibility of social dumping and thus lead to a growth-oriented income policy. It is in the sign of the fight against poverty that the proposal was submitted, not by chance in the Year of Poverty: Europe has declared 2010 the Year of Poverty. It is about income from work, not about a minimum income.

During the performance, the Minister of Labour expressed her cooperation and said that this is one of the matters that she will prioritize during the Belgian Presidency.

Some colleagues had some concerns, which led us to make the necessary text adjustments during the second meeting. We also ask the European Commission to conduct an impact study on the feasibility of introducing a minimum wage in all European Member States.

You understand that this will be a very difficult exercise, from north to south and from west to east.

Our group has fully cooperated in the preparation of the resolution. We have questioned whether it was not on the late side to push this forward as a priority. For the Minister, that was no problem.

It is with great pleasure that I take the floor at the tribune. I would like to thank Ms. De Block for her faithful report as well as all the Commissioners who have really worked in a spirit of openness to lead to a resolution that has truly become the fruit of this commission.

This is how we moved from the idea of a minimum wage, which originally seemed a little vague, to that of a minimum wage to be established in each European country. We need to be clear in view of the situation. In other words, there was no question of destabilizing social achievements in countries that benefit from higher social protection.

As Ms. De Block recalled, the so-called “Lisbon” strategy, focused on three components, had mostly been realised in the economic field, had experienced some timid advances in the environmental field and had given rise to minimal attempts from a social point of view.

Mr De Block said this is the European Year of Combating Poverty. We will take over the EU Presidency on 1 July. It was therefore important for us to take an emblematic position in the eyes of the European workers, who are now far too suspicious of the European construction. Just see the abstinence in countries where voting is not mandatory or the results of referendums on Europe in some neighboring countries.

It was for us to fight social dumping, but above all to establish solidarity between European workers and between them and the social benefiters and to give a little hope to all those who have a much lower social protection than in our country. Furthermore, we believe that this can help make meaningful measures to activate job seekers.

This proposal was open. We want to introduce this minimum wage above the poverty line in countries that do not benefit from it.

I had proposed as a reflection track, even if it does not appear as such in the proposal, to take into account the median salary – and not the average salary. This is open, it is a proposal to be submitted also to the European social partners and to be defended by our Minister of Employment to the EPSCO Council.

Mr. Speaker, colleagues, our group fully supports the resolution calling on the government to advocate a decent minimum wage at European level in all countries of the European Union.

The dignity of the employees is also highly regarded among us. A decent minimum wage in all European countries can also be an important tool in combating social competition between Member States.

In addition, a minimum wage can be growth-promoting as higher wages in lower-income groups significantly lead to higher consumption.

We will therefore approve this resolution of the Social Affairs Committee with full conviction.

However, we believe that no illusions should be aroused. The likelihood that a decent minimum wage, i.e. a wage that amounts to at least two-thirds of an average wage, will actually be introduced in all EU Member States is fairly small.

A number of key Member States in the European Union do not recognize legal or interprofessional minimum wage, such as the Scandinavian countries and Germany. Germany’s position as the largest market is very important.

The German government has already stated that it does not intend to introduce a statutory minimum wage in its own country. Only minimum wages for specific sectors under the Deployment Act are accepted. In addition, social issues are decided unanimously at European level. The qualified majority procedure, such as those applied to other competences such as the internal market, does not apply here.

Also, when introducing a decent minimum wage in all European countries, it is necessary to look at whether the economies of certain Eastern European countries have sufficient capacity to provide this minimum wage.

That minimum wage is, as I said earlier, two-thirds of the median wage for all their employees. In this regard, the results of an impact study by the European Commission should be awaited. It is a privilege for us that this is included in the resolution. We would also like to emphasize that the principle of a decent minimum wage should not lead to the reduction of the level of the minimum wage in our country, and in a number of other European countries where it is fairly high.

There can therefore be no standard minimum wage, in absolute or relative figures. An agreement at European level should therefore allow individual Member States to set the level of a minimum wage above the agreed European standards.

Mr. Speaker, colleagues, also the Ecolo-Groen! group will approve this resolution. We welcome this resolution and would like to express our appreciation to the initiators.

The resolution is more up-to-date than we might expect, as the successor to the Lisbon targets, the EU 20-20 targets, has a shortage of social dimension. It is ⁇ that the Belgian government has also made efforts to include a number of targets, including on poverty, but has failed. Lisbon itself was already a social process with a number of shortcomings. The social dimension of the Lisbon objectives was insufficiently addressed and is also insufficiently achieved. It is all the more important to strive for an effective establishment of the minimum wage at European level, in the European Member States. In this way, the project of the European Union could ⁇ gain a little more support.

Europe is still too much a far-from-mine-bed project. It is only aimed at going internally to a free market and monetary settlement of a number of matters. That is partly reality, but ⁇ the perception that lives in a lot of people.

This year is also the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion. The establishment of a minimum wage above the poverty line is an important element. The more social regulation at European level, the better. The trade unions are also a very demanding party.

If we do not move towards a minimum wage system at European level, we will maintain social dumping. Employers will move their economic activities to those countries within their own European Union where there are no minimum wages. That social dumping plays a role in globalization, we all know. But let us not sustain this social dumping and organize it internally within the European Union. It is important that Member States already at a high level in determining a minimum wage in the European context will not be inclined to lower their level of social protection. I have noticed that this has been sufficiently addressed in the discussion and that it is ⁇ not intended to incorporate such a risk.

It is true that the European Union is not competent to establish minimum wages. Nevertheless, if the Belgian Government answers positively to the questions contained in this resolution, the question of the minimum wage will be discussed during the Belgian Presidency and more specifically in the Ministerial Councils Employment and Social Policy.

I ⁇ ’t want to fill my closet with all the resolutions that were not implemented by the government. If this resolution is executed, it is an important signal function. We still have to wait to see what the concrete impact will be. A legislative proposal is always stronger, especially in the light of the European Year of Combating Poverty.

We would like to again point out the bill that Ecolo-Green! A few years ago, the European Parliament submitted a proposal to raise the minimum wages and social benefits above the poverty line. This is the key incentive to eradicate poverty in Europe. We want to start in our own country.

We ask the parties, the groups and the applicants present here to work on this in their own country. Achieving heavier benefits and a higher living wage depends on your political support.

The Belgian Presidency is a great occasion for this, as well as the European Year of Combating Poverty. One in seven Belgians is poor, colleagues. The issue is therefore urgent.

The resolution we are going to adopt is generous. It aims to make Belgium play an active role for a more social Europe in the framework of our presidency in the second half of the year. Since we are a generous group and want Belgium to play an active role in the construction of a Europe not only more social but also greener, we will vote on this text that Ms. Dieu has had the merit to deposit.

We have made several proposals, corrections or amendments with our colleagues in the Social Affairs Committee. In particular, it was a matter of clarifying that it was not necessary to return to the benefits acquired in certain countries. In terms of social harmonization, we, together with the European Greens, defend the principle of a “paliers-cliquets” directive, with social advances by step, but also with cliquets to avoid retreats in some more advanced countries. It is not about introducing a European minimum wage, but about introducing in every country of Europe a minimum wage that would be above the poverty line. This is what we explained during the work.

This resolution should be included in the context of the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion. These are tools that are worth what they are worth, they must be used as leverage in order to combat inequalities that are unfortunately always stronger.

It was also a matter of reminding that the fundamental problem today is the decrease in the relative share of wages in the gross domestic product of each European country in relation to financial income, which contribute insufficiently to the financing of collective functions and to the redistribution of wealth. This is, in my opinion, a fundamental problem and the variable on which we must work to combat poverty.

Finally, it was a matter of clarifying and insisting on the fact that the increase of the lowest wages serves the economy, benefits the economy; this income is directly reinvested and serves to meet the basic and primary needs of the persons concerned.

It is a generous resolution – and I don’t see how one could oppose it. That being said, once the resolution is adopted, everything remains to be done. This is not the seventh wonder of the world. God, I don’t want to disappoint you.

It is a tool. If we do not use it later, if Ms. Minister of Employment does not manage to include this topic – but I am sure she will try to do so – on the agenda of a next European Council of Ministers in charge of Labour, our commission will be pleased to discuss the text, our plenary assembly will be proud to have adopted it but, as my colleague Wouter De Vriendt said, it will add to the pile of all the resolutions we have already voted and that are in the closets!

I would like to say to Mr. Gilkinet said that, in life and especially in politics, we must continue to be optimistic and to want! You have to believe in what you do. I did not submit this resolution text for you to put it in your drawer! I did it because I would like something concrete to be achieved, because we also have European parliamentarians and that we need to activate all our relays in order for this text to succeed.

Bolkenstein, remember, when we voted here, we have nevertheless arrived – even if it is not perfect, I know it – to put in place a whole series of things that allowed to modify the text on fundamental points. I am an incurable political optimist, that is why I am a socialist, and I tell you that it will work!

Madame God, it is because I believe in it that I take the time to intervene on this subject, despite an assembly that we could have hoped more numerous. This is because I believe that I do politics with the goals I pursue!

We must not be naive, we must be optimistic. But optimism sometimes approaches cynicism when you see the outcome of recent European summits. The Spring Summit, as my colleague De Vriendt said, was extremely disappointing socially.

There is a tax competition within the European countries themselves – and Belgium participates in it with the notional interest system – which leads to a decrease in tax revenues, and therefore the redistribution capacity for all countries.

There is the crisis of the euro. Greece is experiencing difficulties due to the lack of flexibility in the current European monetary system. Their salaries are extremely low and their debt explodes. There really is work!

Optimism must be ⁇ ined, but not to the point of being naive or to overlook the lack of advances, or even the retreats, to which Europe leads.

The Belgian presidency of the European Union in the second half will be an important moment. We call for the fact that the federal state with the federal entities play an active role. We have made various proposals to combat poverty by guaranteeing a minimum income, while ensuring that wage growth continues. Replacement income must be above the poverty risk threshold.

During the Belgian Presidency, a directive on working time will be on the agenda; it will need to be possible to discuss the issue of working time sharing.

In fact, we see an explosion of unemployment in all European countries as a result of the financial crisis and the economic crisis that followed. We must be able to take action against abusive dismissals in the head of the beneficiary companies, guide Europe on the path to another, more sustainable and greener development and orient our economy towards these sectors; they will both reduce our environmental footprint and better share wealth.

So much remains to be done and I would not want anyone to believe that this resolution will solve everything. However, I will vote for it and I want to believe it. I also want to believe that the fact of voting for it, and that Ms. Milquet inscribes it at a given time on the agenda of a Council of European Ministers, will be able, little or no, to advance things.

I have other examples of situations that do not progress: the European Year of Combating Poverty. At the Belgian level, as you know, Mr. Mayeur, we have submitted a proposal aiming at fixing social benefits at the minimum level of poverty. Some European countries do not have sufficient minimum wage and Belgium must be the example, but we should be able to act on other aspects.

With the risk of diverting from the subject, I could talk to you about the dramatic situation of smaller pensions, the increase in the number of so-called poor workers, in precarious situation, especially in the service securities sector. The observation of dramatic situations is made every day: Mrs. Deom did so recently about a case that is equally dear to me, the company Cartomills in Mettet. Other examples are known on both sides of the linguistic border. Let’s not forget the increase in redundancies.

Beyond this resolution we are going to vote on, we expect Belgium to play a driving role in the Belgian Presidency to move forward in this struggle against inequalities, towards social, fiscal and environmental harmonization that will make Europe no longer an abstract concept, that it will be closer to people and that it will be able to play a leverage for more equality among all European citizens.

In conclusion, even if we will vote with optimism and enthusiasm on this resolution to which we have collaborated, we do not give exit to the government of its responsibilities to act here and now against poverty in this country.

In this regard, we have filed a number of texts both on the increase of social benefits at the poverty line and to facilitate the accessibility of assistance to the elderly, in particular those who have to enter a rest house, older pensioners, whose pension level has relatively reduced due to the non-linking of social benefits to well-being.

We expect from all those who, just recently, will vote in favour of this resolution as much active and positive participation in the analysis of these texts, or even in the vote of these texts. Indeed, it is at that moment that we can effectively make the difference and stop this infernal machine of exclusion.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Secretary of State, Mr. Minister, our group has expressed its interest and support for this proposed resolution. The European minimum wage must exist for the sake of social justice. It is, in fact, a way to alleviate the inequalities that have been generated by a competitive market economy and thus, to correct, to overcome market imperfections.

Furthermore, the minimum wage allows to favor work compared to non-working through a minimum income higher than social benefits, the principle being that an employee must live sufficiently well from his work to deviate from the poverty line.

There is, of course, no question of establishing a European minimum wage identical for each country. The European Treaty prohibits any harmonisation of wages at the European level, but the European Parliament may request that each state be obliged to introduce a minimum wage. Therefore, each Member State remains free to determine the amount. One of the difficulties of this harmonisation is that there are significant differences in the national definition of minimum wage.

There is no doubt that we can ⁇ a socially important outcome. That is why we support the resolution proposal to include the issue of the European minimum wage among the many workshops of the Belgian Presidency.