Germany debates minimum wage

A meeting later this month may be the last chance for several years to introduce a minimum wage in Germany. The two parties in Germany's ruling coalition - the centre right CDU-CSU and the social democratic SPD - have been holding inconclusive talks on the issue for months. If no agreement is reached by the 18 June, when the two parties will come together for a formal meeting, the possibility of a minimum wage could well be abandoned until after the next general election due in two and a half years.

The SPD is in favour of some form of minimum wage, although the proposal backed by its labour minister and vice-chancellor Franz Müntefering is for minimum wage rates in specific industries rather than a single national figure. The CDU-CSU, on the other hand, argues a national minimum wage would destroy employment.

A summit between the parties last month failed to reach agreement, leading Müntefering to comment to a television programme that "all round it is absolutely unsatisfactory". However, he also expressed the view that the CDU-CSU "is moving towards us".

The German union confederation, the DGB, which has called for a national minimum wage of €7.50 (£5.18) an hour is frustrated with the lack of progress. In a statement on 15 May, the day after the two-party summit, its president Michael Sommer said: "It is disappointing that after months of negotiations, the coalition has left up to 2.5 million people on hunger wages still out in the cold".