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  • 27-04-2021 12:07

EU/Presidency: Sustained pay rises key to fighting poverty - parliament envoy


Lisbon, April 27, 2021 (Lusa) - A "sustained, gradual increase in the minimum wage" is key to fighting poverty and most notably in eradicating child poverty, which must be a priority for Portugal and the European Union, Maria João Rodrigues, the European Parliament rapporteur and negotiator with the Council of the EU and the European Commission on the Social Pillar, argued in an interview.

Rodrigues, a former minister of employment of Portugal and current president of the European Foundation for Progressive Studies, described a framework for minimum salaries as "a key aspect" of the action plan that Portugal has holder of the presidency of the EU Council wants to see approved at next month's informal European Council, associated with the planned Social Summit in Porto.

"We have just seen in a recent study that, in Portugal, earning the minimum wage in certain conditions is not enough to lift a person out of poverty," she pointed out, referring to work commissioned by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation that shows that one fifth of the country's population is poor, despite the fact that most of them are in employment, mostly with permanent contracts.

"Therefore, for certain countries, such as ours, a gradual and sustained increase in the minimum wage is another key aspect in the fight against poverty," she said.

One of the points of the European Social Pillar action plan is a directive for a minimum wage framework in the EU, to define indicators, criteria and objectives for ensuring a decent quality of life for workers that is compatible with the standard of living of the country where they work.

"This is one of the major goals, because in fact what is at stake is to create a movement of convergence of wages in accordance with the convergence of productivity," she explained. "We are not asking here for anything unrealistic of wage increases that are not supported by productivity in each country. That is not what we are talking about.

"Logically, the minimum wage in countries with less productivity has to be lower than the minimum wage in highly productive countries," she stressed

The proposed directive is opposed by several EU members, including the Nordic countries, where minimum wages are set by collective bargaining.

"I think it's magnificent, if the social partners are able to agree on this on a regular basis - that's the ideal model," she said. "But, let's not have any illusions, in many countries this does not work, nor can it work, because social dialogue does not have that strength or organisational capacity."

That, she stressed, is why "a public policy to establish the minimum wage is really necessary" and, because "it must be coordinated ... we must also convince the countries that are resisting."

This, she went on, "is a fundamental change that must be achieved" along with other scourges such as child poverty.

"If there is a form of poverty that must be truly eradicated as a priority, it is child poverty, because a poor child has a handicap for life," she stressed.

According to Rodrigues, experience shows that combatting child poverty "requires integrated action" relating to parents' earnings, housing conditions, access to education, access to food, access to physical exercise, to culture and to healthcare.

"Our children have to be treated first with all this care, because otherwise we, Portugal, who have a systemic rooted phenomenon of poverty, cannot really get to the bottom of the problem," she said of her homeland. "Starting with children is fundamental."

About the targets laid down in the action plan - of having 78% of the EU's working-age population in employment by 2030, at least 60% of adults participating in training each year and reducing the number of people at risk of social exclusion or poverty by at least 15 million - Rodrigues said that the one regarding employment is "realistic" and that for training "very ambitious".

In 2020, she noted, 74% of the working-age population was in employment, making the target "sufficiently ambitious, but also realistic" given that there are "contradictory factors: opportunity factors, but also risk factors".

She cited the green transition, in which there will be "job cuts in sectors that are not aligned with decarbonisation standards", making it necessary to "offer alternatives to people". The digital transition may also bring job cuts.

But, she stressed, "Europe is committed to an expansion plan, supported by the EU budget", which must also "be supported by national budgets" backed by the Stability and Growth Pact.

"We cannot have the same framework" as in the past, she stressed. "We need balanced budgets, no doubt, but we cannot have the same framework of budgetary discipline that was designed in the 1990s, the reality today is completely different.

"Europe cannot tighten its belt at this time," she summarised.

On training, Maria João Rodrigues admitted that the target "will be the big test of the European [Social] Pillar", given its ambition.

"We are very far from that target of sixty percent of employed workers making use of continuing training services," she said. "I would say, perhaps, [that] it is one of the most emblematic goals of the European Social Pillar, because it is acknowledged that, as we are all going to have several jobs throughout our lives, we have to internalise that this continuing training is a right, but it is almost a duty for everyone.

"For a country like Portugal, this is a huge challenge," she added, referring to the lack of tradition of continuing training in the country.

MDR/ARO // ARO.

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