Directive (EU) 2022/2041 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 October 2022 on adequate minimum wages in the European Union, available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32022L2041&from=EN
E. Ales, 'Transnational Wages Setting as a Key feature of a Socially Oriented European Integration', in E. Ales, T. Jaspers, C. Sachs-Durand and U. Wendeling-Schroeder (eds), Fundamental Social Rights in Europe: Challenges and Opportunities (Cambridge: Intersentia, 2009), 45.
C. Barnard and S. Deakin, '"Negative" and "Positive" Harmonisation of Labour Law in the European Union' (2002) 8 Colum. J. Eur. L. 389.
Article 153 TFEU identifies the fields in which the EU and its Member States can exercise their shared competences on social policy. Article 153(1) empowers the EU to intervene in the field of 'working conditions', whereas Article 153(5) excludes EU competence to legislate on 'pay, the right of association, the right to strike or the right to impose lock-outs'.
The current European Commission took office in December 2019, presenting its political priorities to the European Parliament. Cf. Von Der Leyen, 'The Commission's priorities for 2019-2024' https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2020/646148/EPRS-BRI(2020)646148-EN.pdf (accessed 4 November 2022).
'First-stage consultation of social partners on Fair Minimum Wages in the EU' (C(2020) 83 final) https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/fs-20-51 (accessed 4 November 2022).
'Second phase consultation of Social Partners under Article 154 TFEU on a possible action addressing the challenges related to fair minimum wages' (C(2020) 3570 final) https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=PI-COM:C(2020)3570&from=EN (accessed 4 November 2022).
Von Der Leyen, 'State of the Union Address by President von der Leyen at the European Parliament Plenary' (September 2020) https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/SPEECH-20-1655 (accessed 4 November 2022).
European Commission, 'Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on adequate minimum wages in the European Union' (COM/2020/682 final) https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52020PC0682 (accessed 4 November 2022).
The Council's legal service raised concerns about the legal basis and other aspects of the proposed directive. Cf. Council of the European Union, 'Opinion of the legal service on the Commission proposal for a Directive on adequate minimum wages' (March 2021) https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-6817-2021-INIT/en/pdf (accessed 4 November 2022).
European Parliament, Committee on Legal Affairs, 'Opinion on the legal basis of the proposal for a Directive on adequate minimum wages' (October 2021) https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/JURI-AL-699235-EN.pdf (accessed 4 November 2022).
European Parliament, 'Draft legislative resolution on the proposal for a directive on adequate minimum wages in the European Union' (November 2021) https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-9-2021-0325-EN.html#top (accessed 4 November 2022).
European Parliament, 'Press release 25 November 2021' https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20211119IPR17718/minimum-wage-green-light-to-start-negotiationswith-council (accessed 4 November 2022).
Council of the European Union, 'Minimum wages: Council and European Parliament reach provisional agreement on new EU law' (June 2022) https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2022/06/07/minimum-wages-council-and-european-parliament-reachprovisional-agreement-on-new-eu-law/ (accessed 4 November 2022).
https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/general-secretariat/corporate-policies/transparency/open-data/voting-results/?meeting=3898 (accessed 4 November 2022).
The Preamble states '[w]hereas universal and lasting peace can be established only if it is based upon social justice; [...] and an improvement of those conditions is urgently required; as, for example [...] the provision of an adequate living wage'. In turn, the ILO Constitution's Preamble builds on the 1944 Philadelphia Declaration, which recognises 'the solemn obligation of the International Labour Organization to further among the nations of the world programmes which will achieve [...] policies in regard to wages and earnings, hours and other conditions of work calculated to ensure a just share of the fruits of progress to all, and a minimum living wage to all employed and in need of such protection' (emphasis added).
ILO Minimum Wage Fixing Convention, No.131 (1970)
ILO Protection of Wages Convention, No. 95 (1949)
ILO Minimum Wage-Fixing Machinery Convention, No. 26 (1928), to be read together with the accompanying Recommendation R30.
Z. Adams and S. Deakin, 'Article 4. The Right to a Fair Remuneration', in N. Bruun, K. Lörcher, I. Schömann and S. Clauwert (eds), The European Social Charter and the Employment Relation (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2017), 203-4.
H.-J. Andreß and H. Lohmann, 'Introduction: The Working Poor in Europe', in H.-J. Andreß and H. Lohmann (eds), The Working Poor in Europe. Employment, Poverty and Globalization (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2008), 1-2.
H. Collins, 'Fat Cats, Production Networks, and the Right to Fair Pay' (2022) 85(1) MLR 10-24.
Cf. T. Schulten, 'European Minimum Wage Policy: A Concept for Wage-led Growth and Fair Wages in Europe' (2012) 14 European Journal of Industrial Relations 421-39
E. Fernández-Macías and C. Vacas-Soriano, 'A Coordinated European Union Minimum Wage Policy?' (2015) 22 European Journal of Industrial Relations 97-113.
E. Ales, 'The European Pillar of Social Rights: an ambitious "soft-law guide" to efficient employment and social outcomes', in R. Singer and T. Bazzani (eds), European Employment Policies: Current Challenges (Berlin: BWV-Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag, 2017), 57-8.
S. Garben, 'The European Pillar of Social Rights: An Assessment of its Meaning and Significance' (2019) 21 Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies, 101-27.
'The European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan' (March 2021) https://op.europa.eu/webpub/empl/european-pillar-of-social-rights/en/ (accessed 4 November 2022). The document makes clear that the two main priorities in the EPSR's implementation are to address in-work poverty and inequality, and to ensure the adequacy of minimum wages across the EU 'in full respect of national traditions and the autonomy of social partners'
As a consequence, for instance, any national rule or practice having the effect of emptying the concept of adequacy of its significance would be contrary to the all-pervading principle of effet utile. On the importance of that principle in the interpretation of EU directives by the Court of Justice, cf. E. Menegatti, 'Much ado about little: The Commission proposal for a Directive on adequate wages' (2021) 14(1) Italian Labour Law e-Journal 21, 28 https://illej.unibo.it/article/view/13369 (accessed 4 November 2022).
C. Barnard, 'Are Social "Rights" Rights?' (2020) 11(4) European Labour Law Journal 357-8.
European Commission (n 9).
European Trade Union Confederation, 'Reply on the Second Phase Consultation of Social Partners under Article 154 TFEU on a possible action addressing the challenges related to fair minimum wages' (2020), para. 59.
'Explanatory memorandum annexed to the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on adequate minimum wages in the European Union' https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52020PC0682 (accessed 4 November 2022).
See especially draft Recital 16, which stated: 'In full respect of Article 153(5) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, this Directive neither aims to harmonise the level of minimum wages across the Union nor to establish a uniform mechanism for setting minimum wages.'
A. Aranguiz and S. Garben, 'Confronting the Competence Conundrum of an EU Directive on Minimum Wages: In Search of a Legal Basis', CEPOB #9/2019 http://aei.pitt.edu/103399/1/aranguiz-garben-cepob-9%2D19.pdf (accessed 4 November 2022).
See e.g., draft Article 1(1) ('This Directive shall be without prejudice to the full respect of the autonomy of social partners, as well as their right to negotiate and conclude collective agreements'); draft Article 1(2) ('This Directive shall be without prejudice to the choice of the Member States to set statutory minimum wages or promote access to minimum wage protection provided by collective agreements.'); draft Article 1(3) ('Nothing in this Directive shall be construed as imposing an obligation on the Member States where wage setting is ensured exclusively via collective agreements to introduce a statutory minimum wage nor to make the collective agreements universally applicable.'). See also the iteration of the negative form ('this directive shall not') in the narrative of draft Preamble 16.
Eurofound, Industrial Relations and Social Dialogue. Minimum Wages in 2022: Annual Review (Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2022).
European Commission (n 9), Article 7(2).
A. Aranguiz, 'The proposal on adequate minimum wages in the European Union: Striving for fairness, less so adequacy', EU Law Analysis 5 November 2020 http://eulawanalysis.blogspot.com/2020/11/the-proposal-on-adequate-minimum-wages.html (accessed 4 November 2022)
G. Di Federico, 'The Minimum Wages Directive Proposal and the External Limits of Art. 153 TFEU' (2020) 13(2) Italian Labour Law e-Journal 107-11, who concludes that the proposed directive is compatible with Article 153(5) TFEU.
See e.g., the definitions of 'minimum wage', 'collective agreement' and 'collective bargaining coverage' included in Article 3, all of which were legally imprecise and therefore unclear.
J. Kristiansen, 'Expert Opinion for the Central Organisation of Industrial Employees in Denmark on the Commission proposal for a directive on adequate minimum wages' (November 2020) https://fho.dk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/jens-kristiansen-proposal-for-adirective-on-adequate-minimum-wages-5.pdf (accessed 4 November 2022).
A. Aranguiz and S. Garben, 'Combating Income Inequality in the EU: A Legal Assessment of a Potential EU Minimum Wage Directive' (2021) 46(2) European Law Review 156-74.
Cf. European Parliament, 'Resolution on employment and social policies of the euro area' (October 2019), https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2019-0033-EN.html
Id., 'Resolution on the employment and social policies of the euro area 2020' (October 2020) https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2020-0284-EN.html
Id., 'Resolution on a strong social Europe for just transitions' (December 2020) https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2020-0371-EN.html
Id., 'Resolution on reducing inequalities with a special focus on in-work poverty' (February 2021) https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2021-0044-EN.html.
Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on 'Proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on adequate minimum wages in the European Union' (COM(2020) 682 final-2020/310 (COD)) (March 2021)
Opinion of the European Committee of the Regions-Adequate minimum wages in the European Union (2021/C 175/08) (May 2021).
The original formulation of Article 5(2) referred to a) the purchasing power of statutory minimum wages, taking into account the cost of living and the incidence of taxes and social benefits; b) the general level of gross wages and their distribution; c) the rate of growth of gross wages; and d) the trend in labour productivity."
The original formulation of Article 5(3) merely referred to 'the general level of gross wages, such as those commonly used at international level'.
It should be noted that these thresholds merely indicate reference values and are not mandatory. Furthermore, they only partly coincide with the in-work poverty indicator used by Eurostat, given that the latter does not refer to the situation of the individual worker, but rather to that of the worker as part of a given household, and also adds the further social transfers from which the household benefits, thus composing so-called household disposable income. Cf. L. Ratti, A. García Muñoz and V. Vergnat, 'The Challenge of Defining, Measuring, and Overcoming In-Work Poverty in Europe: An Introduction', in L. Ratti (ed), In-Work Poverty in Europe. Vulnerable and Under-Represented Persons in a Comparative Perspective (Alphen aan den Rijn: Wolters Kluwer, 2022), 11.
In fact, Recital 28 notes that 'Among other instruments, a basket of goods and services at real prices established at national level can be instrumental to determining the cost of living with the aim of achieving a decent standard of living. In addition to material necessities such as food, clothing and housing, the need to participate in cultural, educational and social activities could also be taken into consideration.'
This is the basic assumption underpinning the Working, Yet Poor (WorkYP) Project, funded by Horizon2020 programme, which ties the reduction of in-work poverty to the full realisation of a true EU social citizenship. See further https://workingyetpoor.eu
On the idea of social citizenship in the EU, see inter alia T. Faist, 'Social Citizenship in the European Union: Nested Citizenship' (2001) 39(1) Journal of Common Market Studies 37-58
A. Amelina, E. Carmel, A. Runfors and E. Scheibelhofer, Boundaries of European Social Citizenship EU Citizens' Transnational Social Security in Regulations, Discourses, and Experiences (London: Routledge, 2019)
S. Börner, 'Marshall revisited: EU social policy from a social-rights perspective' (2020) 30(4) Journal of European Social Policy 421-35
F. Vandenbroucke, 'The Idea of a European Social Union: A Normative Introduction' in F. Vandenbroucke, C. Barnard and G. De Baere (eds), A European Social Union after the Crisis (Cambridge: CUP, 2017), 3-46
C. Marzo, La dimension sociale de la citoyenneté européenne (Aix-Marseille: PUAM, 2011).
It must be noted, however, that Convention No. 131 does not contain concepts such as 'adequate' or 'decent' wages, thus making it difficult to establish a definition of the minimum wage and its components. See Bureau international du travail, Étude d'ensemble des rapports sur la convention (no 131) et la Recommandation (no 135) sur la fixation des salaires minima 1970, Genève, 2014, 39.
Collins (n 20).
On which Brian Bercusson observed that it transformed an overall objective of labour law into an individual subjective right of workers: B. Bercusson, European Labour Law (Cambridge: CUP, 2009), 380.
More recently see A. Bogg and M. Ford, 'Article 31. Fair and Just Working Conditions', in S. Peers, T. Hervey, J. Kenner, A. Ward (eds), The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. A Commentary (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2021), 845.
See E. Mazuyer, 'Article 4 RESC. The Right to a Fair Remuneration', in E. Ales, M. Bell, O. Deinert and S. Robin-Olivier (eds), International and European Labour Law (Oxford: Hart Publishing/Beck/Nomos, 2018), 273.
Z. Adams, Labour and The Wage. A Critical Perspective (Oxford: OUP 2020) 60 et seq.
European Commission (n 9), Article 4(1).
T. Müller, K. Vandaele and Z. Rasnaca, 'Wages and Collective Bargaining: Time to Deliver on the European Pillar of Social Rights', in ETUI, Benchmarking Working Europe (Brussels: ETUI, 2019), 47-66.
Article 258 TFEU provides for infringement proceedings brought by the Commission and Article 260 for the CJEU to impose a lump sum or penalty payment on non-compliant Member States.
J. Cova, 'Reconsidering the Drivers of Country-Specific Recommendations: The Commission's Ideological Preferences on Wage Policies' (2022) European Union Politics 1-23.
Recital 7 emphasises the role of minimum wages in the protection of low-wage workers and the achievement of a 'fair, inclusive and sustainable growth', so that competition in the internal market must therefore be based on 'high social standards, including a high level of workers' protection, [and] the creation of quality jobs'. According to Recital 8, minimum wages that provide for a decent standard of living and thus meet a threshold of decency, can 'contribute to the reduction of poverty at national level'.
European Parliament, 'Resolution of 10 February 2021 on reducing inequalities with a special focus on in-work poverty' (2019/2188 (INI)).
This definition is the one that has commonly been deployed at EU level since the adoption of Regulation (EC) No 1177/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 June 2003 concerning Community statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC). See further H. Lohmann, 'The Concept and Measurement of In-Work Poverty', in H. Lohmann and I. Marx (eds), Handbook on In-Work Poverty (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2018), 7-25.
B. Halleröd, H. Ekbrand and M. Bengtsson, 'In-work Poverty and Labour Market Trajectories: Poverty Risks Among the Working Population in 22 European Countries' (2015) 25(5) Journal of European Social Policy 473-88.
W. Salverda, 'Low Earnings and Their Drivers in Relation to In-Work Poverty', in H. Lohmann and I. Marx (eds), Handbook on In-Work Poverty (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2018), 26-49.
P. Skedinger, 'The Economics behind the Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages in the EU: A Critical Assessment' (2022) IFN Working Paper No. 1438.
K. Bruckmeier and O. Bruttel, 'Minimum Wage as a Social Policy Instrument: Evidence from Germany' (2021) 50(2) Journal of Social Policy 247-66.
H. Haapanala, I. Marx and Z. Parolin, 'Decent Wage Floors in Europe: Does the Minimum Wage Directive Get It Right?' (2022), IZA Discussion Paper no. 15660 (October 2022).
R. Peña-Casas, D. Ghailani, S. Spasova and B. Vanhercke, In-work Poverty in Europe. A Study of National Policies (European Social Policy Network (ESPN), Brussels: European Commission, 2019).
Si licet, cf. L. Ratti and A. Garcia-Muñoz, 'EU Law, In-Work Poverty, and Vulnerable Workers' (2022) 1(3) European Law Open 733-47.
B. Furåker, 'The Issue of Statutory Minimum Wages: Views Among Nordic Trade Unions' (2020) 41(2) Economic and Industrial Democracy 419-35.
Euractiv, 'Adequate Minimum Wages proposal - an attack on collective bargaining' (March 2021) https://www.euractiv.com/section/economy-jobs/opinion/adequate-minimum-wagesproposal-an-attack-on-collective-bargaining/ (accessed 4 November 2022).
See e.g. Directive 2019/1152/EU on transparent and predictable working conditions in the European Union (Article 1(2)) and Directive 2019/1158/EU on work-life balance for parents and carers (Article 2).
For a thorough discussion on the personal scope of EU labour law cf. N. Kountouris, 'The Concept of "Worker" in European Labour Law: Fragmentation, Autonomy and Scope' (2018) 47(2) ILJ 192, 200-13.
The Council approved the Directive by qualified majority, with two votes against (Denmark and Sweden) and one abstention (Hungary). More at: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/general-secretariat/corporate-policies/transparency/open-data/voting-results/?meeting=3898 (accessed 4 November 2022).
Explanatory memorandum (n 29).
Case C-501/12, Specht EU:C:2014:2005, para 33
Case C-268/06, Bruno and others EU:C:2008:223, paras. 123-124.
Directive 2022/2041, Recital 1, second period.
On the importance of Article 9 TFEU, see inter alia P. Vielle, 'How the Horizontal Social Clause can be made to Work: The Lessons of Gender Mainstreaming', in N. Bruun, K. Lörcher and I. Schömann (eds), The Lisbon Treaty and Social Europe (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2012), 105.
Case C-626/18, Commission v Poland EU:C:2020:1000
Case C-620/18, Commission v Hungary EU:C:2020:1001
on which see M. Lasek-Markey, 'No Turning Back from Social Europe: A New Interpretation of the Refurbished Posted Workers Directive in Hungary and Poland' (2022) 51(1) ILJ 194.
G. Thüsing and G. Hütter-Brungs, 'Soziale Gerechtigkeit ultra vires - Kritische Anmerkungen zum Entwurf einer Mindestlohnrichtlinie' (2021), 38(2) Neue Zeitschrift für Arbeitsrecht 170.
Kristiansen (n 37)
E. Sjödin, 'European Minimum Wage: A Swedish Perspective on EU's Competence in Social Policy in the Wake of the Proposed Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages in the EU' (2022) European Labour Law Journal 279-81.
S. Garben, 'The Constitutional (Im)balance between "the Market" and "the Social" in the European Union' (2017) 13(1) European Constitutional Law Review 23.
At the time of proofreading, Denmark has promoted an action for annulment before the CJEU (case C-19/23).
On which see A. Engel, The Choice of Legal Basis for Acts of the European Union. Competence Overlaps, Institutional Preferences, and Legal Basis Litigation (London-Heidelberg: Springer, 2018).
Kristiansen (n 37).
Case C-55/18, CCOO v Deutsche Bank EU:C:2019:402, where the Court held that Articles 3, 5 and 6, Directive 2003/88 must be read as obliging Member States to 'require employers to set up a system enabling the duration of time worked each day by each worker to be measured'.
Cf. e.g., Directive 2022/2041, Recitals 5, 12, 19, and 25, and Articles 1(2) and 4(2).
For a forceful critique of the choice of Article 153 TFEU as legal basis cf. Sjödin (n 77) 279-81.
Draft Article 11 of the initial directive proposal ('Right to redress and protection against adverse treatment or consequences') provided that '1. Member States shall ensure that, without prejudice to specific forms of redress and dispute resolution provided for, where applicable, in collective agreements, workers, including those whose employment relationship has ended, have access to effective and impartial dispute resolution and a right to redress, including adequate compensation, in the case of infringements of their rights relating to statutory minimum wages or minimum wage protection provided by collective agreements. 2. Member States shall take the measures necessary to protect workers, including those who are workers' representatives, from any adverse treatment by the employer and from any adverse consequences resulting from a complaint lodged with the employer or resulting from any proceedings initiated with the aim of enforcing compliance with the rights relating to statutory minimum wages or minimum wage protection provided by collective agreements'.
M. J. Hotvedt, N. Videbæk Munkholm, D. A. Pind, A. Westregård, M. Ylhäinen and K. Alsos, The future of Nordic Labour Law. Facing the Challenges of Changing Labour Relations (Nordic Council of Ministers, 2020), 20-6
J. Votinius, 'Sources of Labour Law in Sweden', in T. Gyulavári, E. Menegatti (eds), The Sources of Labour Law (Alphen aan den Rijn: Wolters Kluwer, 2020), 336-44
C. H. Schjøler, 'The Danish Struggle to Maintain the Primacy of Collective Bargaining', in T. Gyulavári, E. Menegatti (eds), The Sources of Labour Law (Alphen aan den Rijn: Wolters Kluwer, 2020), 195-7
A. Westregård, 'Sweden', in U. Liukkunen (ed), Collective Bargaining in Labour Law Regimes. A Global Perspective (London-Heidelberg: Springer, 2019), 553-76.
L. Eldring and K. Alsos, European Minimum Wage: A Nordic Outlook (Fafo Report, 2014), 18 http://gesd.free.fr/fafo2014.pdf (accessed 4 November 2022).
European Commission, Country-Specific Recommendations to Italy (2018): 'While the total number of collective agreements is on the rise, only a small share of them is signed by the main trade unions and employers' association' https://ec.europa.eu/info/publications/2018-european-semester-country-specific-recommendations-commission-recommendations-en (accessed 4 November 2022).
T. Schulten, 'Der Mindestlohn stabilisiert das Tarifvertragssystem im Niedriglohnsektor' https://www.wsi.de/de/blog-17857-mindestlohn-stabilisiert-tarifvertragssystem-imniedriglohnsektor-29544.htm (accessed 4 November 2022).
Explanatory memorandum, cit. For this reason, the version agreed between Parliament and Council in June 2022 changed the reference from median wage to the average wage to reflect the fact that this adjustment raised the threshold below which Member States are obliged to establish an Action Plan to promote collective bargaining from 70% to 80%.
In fact, where the coverage rate of collective bargaining exceeds 80%, the aforementioned secondary obligations under Article 4(2) are not triggered at all, and thus the Member State in question is exempt from introducing a regulatory framework to promote collective bargaining and from drawing up the above-mentioned Action Plan to increase the coverage rate.
B. Maître, B. Nolan and C. Whelan, 'Low-Pay, In-Work Poverty and Economic Vulnerability: A Comparative Analysis Using EU-SILC' (2012) 80(1) Manchester School, 99-116.
M. Gießelmann and L. Henning, 'The Different Roles of Low-Wage Work in Germany: Regional, Demographical and Temporary Variances in the Poverty Risk of Low-Paid Workers', in H.-J. Andreß, H. Lohmann (eds), The Working Poor in Europe (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2008), 96-123.
European Commission, 'Employment and Social Developments in Europe' (Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2016), 84-93.
For a critique see S. Giubboni, 'The Rise and Fall of EU Labour Law' (2018) 24(1) European Law Journal 7.
F. Scharpf, 'The Asymmetry of European Integration, or Why the EU cannot be a "Social Market Economy"' (2010) 8(2) Socio-Economic Review 215.
M. Ferrera, 'The European Social Union: A Missing but Necessary "Political Good"', in F. Vandenbroucke, C. Barnard and G. De Baere (eds), A European Social Union after the Crisis (Cambridge: CUP, 2017), 47.
Cf. e.g. the infamous 2011-2012 reforms urged by the EU institutions reflected in the policy paper EU Commission-DG for Economic and Financial Affairs, Labour Market Developments in Europe (2012). The paper encouraged the Member States, inter alia, to decentralize collective bargaining and to 'ensure that their wage setting mechanisms appropriately reflect productivity developments, so as to boost competitiveness and support labour market adjustment and job creation'
