Tribune. March 25, 2022 will mark the 65e anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. This gave birth to the European Economic Community, which brought together countries that had barely emerged from the war in a project of economic cooperation. This visionary idea has prompted our countries to engage in constant dialogue to ensure lasting peace. The founding fathers of the European project were aware that they might only function with the support of the peoples. Economic cooperation and convergence had to go hand in hand with the sharing of well-being. The promise of prosperity brought by economic convergence therefore had to be accompanied by social convergence. Promise partially fulfilled.
The construction of a social Europe has been longer and more tortuous than the economic construction. Advances such as the adoption of the euro have reinforced the integration and interdependence of the economies of the Member States, but they have not prevented the perception of a gap between institutions and citizens from spreading. In the absence of European instruments making it possible to compensate for the resulting social imbalances, Europe might be perceived as an area exclusively at the service of economic and financial interests. The 2008 crisis reinforced this image. By accentuating distrust of European institutions, it has favored the development of populist and Eurosceptic or Europhobic movements.
It took almost ten years for social issues to finally return to the heart of political debate. The adoption of the European Pillar of Social Rights in 2017 thus marked a turning point. Similarly, the solidarity approach to respond to the health crisis of the Covid epidemic testifies to the importance of this social dimension. However, progress is still too timid in view of the challenges we have to face.
European workers want a strong, united and protective social Europe. Today, ahead of the informal Council of Ministers of Social Affairs and Employment, we are mobilizing to demand that European decision-makers make up for the years of delay by approving a European directive by the anniversary of the Treaty of Rome on minimum wages and the most ambitious collective bargaining possible.
This directive must require Member States where the legal minimum wage exists to set it at decent levels so that every worker can live with dignity from his work in Europe. While preserving the good national practices already in force in certain countries guaranteeing the autonomy of the social partners, the directive must also require the Member States to define with the social partners themselves the measures necessary to develop and strengthen collective bargaining in all European countries. Because collective bargaining, especially at interprofessional and branch level, is the best tool for setting fair wages and a more equitable sharing of the wealth produced by workers. Beyond the question of wages, collective bargaining also makes it possible to obtain improvements in living conditions at work and better involvement of workers in the choices of their companies.
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