CJEU Case C-19/23 / Judgment

Kingdom of Denmark v European Parliament and Council of the European Union
Deciding body type
Court of Justice of the European Union
Deciding body
Court (Grand Chamber)
Type
Decision
Decision date
11/11/2025
ECLI (European case law identifier)
ECLI:EU:C:2025:865
  • CJEU Case C-19/23 / Judgment

    Key facts of the case:

    Action for annulment – Directive (EU) 2022/2041 – Adequate minimum wages in the European Union – Article 153(1)(b) TFEU – Article 153(2)(b) TFEU – Respect for the competences conferred on the Union by the Treaties – Article 153(5) TFEU – Exclusions of competence – ‘Pay’ and ‘right of association’ – Direct interference by EU law in the determination of pay within the European Union and in the right of association – Partial annulment – Article 5(1), in part, (2) and (3) in fine

    Outcome of the case:

    On those grounds, the Court (Grand Chamber) hereby:

    1. Annuls the part of the sentence ‘including the elements referred to in paragraph 2’ in the fifth sentence of Article 5(1) of Directive (EU) 2022/2041 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 October 2022 on adequate minimum wages in the European Union, Article 5(2) of that directive and the part of the sentence ‘provided that the application of that mechanism does not lead to a decrease of the statutory minimum wage’ in Article 5(3) of that directive;
    2. Dismisses the action as to the remainder;
    3. Orders the Kingdom of Denmark to pay two thirds of the costs incurred by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union and to bear two thirds of its own costs;
    4. Orders the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union to pay one third of the costs incurred by the Kingdom of Denmark and to bear one third of their own costs;
    5. Orders the Kingdom of Belgium, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Hellenic Republic, the Kingdom of Spain, the French Republic, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Portuguese Republic, the Kingdom of Sweden and the Commission to bear their own costs.
  • Paragraphs referring to EU Charter

    93. It should be added that, in view of the exclusion of competence relating to ‘pay’ laid down in Article 153(5) TFEU, a right inherent in EU law to ‘adequate’ or ‘fair’ statutory minimum wages cannot moreover be inferred from a combined reading of Article 5(1) of the contested directive and Article 31(1) of the Charter. Under Article 51(2) thereof, the Charter does not extend the field of application of Union law beyond the powers of the Union or establish any new power or task for the Union, or modify powers and tasks as defined in the Treaties.

    ...

    111. Lastly, the Charter of Social Rights and the European Social Charter, as instruments expressly referred to in the first paragraph of Article 151 TFEU, as well as the Charter deal separately with the right of association and the right to collective bargaining.

    112. As regards, more specifically, the Charter, first, the right of association laid down in Article 12 thereof refers inter alia to the ‘right of everyone to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his or her interests’. That right also includes the right not to set up or join an organisation, including a trade union. It also refers, in that regard, to the possibility for an association to pursue its activities and operate without unjustified interference by the State (see, to that effect, judgments of 9 March 2006, Werhof, C‑499/04, EU:C:2006:168, paragraph 33, and of 18 June 2020, Commission v Hungary (Transparency of associations), C‑78/18, EU:C:2020:476, paragraph 113).

    113. Second, the right to collective bargaining, provided for in Article 28 of the Charter, includes, inter alia, the right of workers and employers, or their respective organisations, ‘to negotiate and conclude collective agreements at the appropriate levels’.

    114. In that regard, it is indeed true that, as the Kingdom of Denmark submits, the derogation provided for in Article 153(5) TFEU derives from Article 2(6) of the Agreement on social policy concluded between the Member States of the European Community with the exception of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (OJ 1992 C 191, p. 91), annexed to Protocol (No 14) on Social Policy annexed to the EC Treaty, and therefore precedes the adoption of the Charter. However, the Kingdom of Denmark’s argument that the authors of the Treaties intended to exclude from the competences of the European Union, in Article 153(5) TFEU, the subject of free participation in collective bargaining, as an element inherent in the right of association, while not supported by the Charter, is also not supported by the provisions of the European Social Charter and the Charter of Social Rights, which, for their part, precede the adoption of the Agreement on social policy. The European Social Charter and the Charter of Social Rights also treat the right of association and the right to collective bargaining as distinct rights, namely, as regards the former, in Articles 5 and 6 thereof and, as regards the latter, in Articles 11 and 12 thereof.

  • Paragraphs referring to EU Charter (original language)