During Tuesday afternoon, the first step was taken towards an EU common minimum wage. Then labor market commissioner Nicolas Schmit met the labor market partner for an initial consultation.

After that, the process will continue with several calls during the spring before a first proposal is submitted.

Wages can be lowered

For most EU countries, this is not very strange. Twenty-two EU member states already have a statutory minimum wage. Only six countries, including Sweden, have a different model. And hence the worry. The lowest wages in Sweden are generally high compared to the lowest wages in other EU countries. A statutory minimum wage could lead to wages in Sweden being lowered rather than raised.

- We must do things to ensure that, not least, workers in Eastern Europe receive better and higher wages. But doing so in a way that risks the only well-functioning wage models in Europe is in plain Swedish stupid. One should not degrade those who have the better, but the opposite, says Karl-Petter Thorwaldsson, LO's chairman.

And he gets support from employers.

- You risk crushing the Swedish model with negotiations and freedom of contract that exists between unions and employers. Politics should not interfere with this and it is deeply problematic that they are now doing so at EU level, says Andreas Åström, business policy manager at the employers' organization Almega.

Unclear if exceptions help

Nicolas Schmit has said that the plan does not impair the model that exists in Sweden. This could mean that Sweden can negotiate an exception. But the question is how much such a thing is worth.

If an employer wants to pay according to the EU minimum wage, rather than according to the Swedish model, then the company can pursue the matter in the European Court of Justice. And exceptions to EU law have already been seen to be defeated.

- The task of the European Court of Justice is to ensure that EU law is respected. They are the last word. The Commission may grant exemptions. But there will be an obvious risk that these exceptions negotiated will end up in the European Court of Justice. And then they can fall, says Jaan Paju, associate professor of EU law at Stockholm University