Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)
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60. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment whether his Department have had any engagement at EU level on the ongoing case on the Adequate Minimum Wages Directive currently before the Court of Justice of the EU; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33160/25]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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The (EU) 2022/2041 Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages in the European Union was published on 19th October 2022 and was transposed in Ireland via the Statutory Instrument S.I. No. 633/2024 - European Union (Adequate Minimum Wages) Regulations 2024, meeting the deadline of the 15th November 2024.

The Directive aims to ensure that workers across the European Union are protected by adequate minimum wages allowing for a decent standard of living wherever they work.

On 18^th January 2023, Denmark initiated an action for annulment before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) regarding the Directive, arguing that it ‘interferes directly with the determination of the level of pay in the Member States and concerns the right of association, which is excluded from the competence of the EU legislature pursuant to Article 153(5) TFEU .’ Denmark claim that the Court should annul the Directive in full, or in the alternative that the Court should annul Article 4(1)(d) and Article 4(2), both of which relate to the promotion of collective bargaining on wage-setting.

In January of this year, the Advocate General gave an opinion to the Court of Justice that the Directive should be annulled in full on the grounds that it is incompatible with European law.

A decision by the CJEU on this case has not been made yet. My Department is monitoring developments closely and will engage at both EU and national level as appropriate following the decision.