ABSTRACT
Until recent times, the idea of a coordinated European minimum wage (EMW) policy had never taken concrete shape, due to the heterogeneity of national wage-setting and collective bargaining arrangements, uncertain EU competence on the matter, and widespread scepticism among parties and social partners. In October 2020, however, the von der Leyen Commission launched a proposal for a directive on the EMW, which was finally approved in October 2022 despite the bitter reaction of Nordic Member States as well as Hungary and Poland. This chapter investigates how the EMW directive made it to the policy agenda of the Commission, despite the many political and territorial tensions behind it, and what coalitions pushed it at different stages of the policy process. We show that increased partisan political competition dynamics at the supranational level, together with the gradual emergence of pro-MW coalitions in key Member States, was crucial in overcoming the territorial and ideological conflicts that had long stalled EU initiatives on minimum wage coordination.
