Minimum Wages Directive stands: A clear mandate for fair pay

CESI welcomes today’s Grand Chamber judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union confirming the validity of the EU Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages. The ruling secures the Directive’s core objective: ensuring that statutory minimum wages support a decent standard of living and that collective bargaining is promoted and strengthened across the Union.

The Court annulled Article 5(2), which listed detailed EU criteria for assessing adequacy, but it left the heart of the framework intact. Article 5(1) continues to link minimum wages to adequacy and a decent standard of living, and Article 5(4) retains the reference points around 60% of the gross median wage and 50% of the gross average wage to guide national updates. The provisions promoting collective bargaining were confirmed, including the requirement for Member States with low coverage to draw up national action plans. The Directive’s non‑regression clause also remains in place.

“Today’s ruling is a clear signal: Europe can and must act for fair wages. With the Directive confirmed, governments have full legal certainty to raise wage floors and expand collective bargaining. Now we expect swift, ambitious implementation that puts wages on a path to the threshold of decency and strengthens workers’ bargaining power,” said Klaus Heeger, CESI Secretary General.

CESI calls on governments to act now: implement the Directive in full, raise wage floors towards the threshold of decency, strengthen and extend collective bargaining through concrete measures, and ground decisions in international standards such as ILO Convention No. 131. CESI stands ready to support social‑partner consultations and legislative follow‑up to deliver fair, adequate wages across Europe.