Keywords: EU minimum wage; Social dialogue; EU social competences.
The essay deals with the relaunch of the EU initiatives to adopt a
normative instrument on minimum wage. Even if the issue had been on
the agenda of previous Commissions, the new Presidency has put it on
the list of the EU priorities. Such bold political willingness risks however
to be frustrated both by the opposition of the social partners – who
refused to open the negotiation procedure – and by the uncertainties
surrounding the legal base indicated by the Commission. The essay argues that such difficulties could be overcome by making reference to an
alternative legal basis and by framing the proposal in such way not to be
considered as exceeding the limits of EU competencies and excessively
limiting the autonomy of national social partners.