EU legislation creating concerns for Nordic employers 

The letter stresses the vital importance of respecting the division of competences between the EU and the Member States as well as the different labour market models and welfare systems within the individual countries.

This past weekend, the EU leaders held a social summit in Porto, Portugal, focusing on an action plan for the implementation of the Social Pillar. The European Pillar of Social Rights lists 20 principles and rights aimed at ensuring fair and well-functioning labour markets and welfare systems. The Pillar was adopted at the Social Summit, in Gothenburg in 2017.

Even before the adoption of the Social Pillar, Nordic employers had warned that this would lead to a legislative agenda, one that risked damaging Nordic labour market models. Unfortunately, this prediction has already come to pass, with the proposals for Directives on minimum wages and on pay transparency being particularly worrying.

The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, in partnership with the other Nordic employer confederations, have written to the respective Presidents of the European Commission, the Council and the European Parliament. The open letter stresses that the EU must respect the principles of proportionality and subsidiarity, which are the heart of the Lisbon Treaty. It should also respect the division of competences between the Member States and the EU, safeguarding the different labour market models and welfare systems within the individual countries.

In an interview with Ekot, Radio Sweden, Mattias Dahl, Executive Vice-President of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, described the Minimum Wage Directive as ‘a battering ram’.

– It breaks new ground, and if it succeeds there will be an avalanche of proposals, he says.

Therese Guovelin, vice-President of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation, also fears that there could be further proposals for new EU laws in the labour market area.

– Such moves will only become easier if a Directive on minimum wages is adopted, she tells Ekot, Radio Sweden.