Increasing the basic hourly wage to 15 euros is causing political friction in Berlin, while Athens is celebrating the increase of 5 euros per hour. A few days ago, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis solemnly announced the increase in the minimum wage to 880 euros (gross).

Reduction shows that this corresponds to a hourly wage of 5 euros. (22 working days for 8 hours, ie 176 hours per month. 880/176 = 5). Calculating the 14 wages divided by 12 shows a “official” of 5.60 euros per hour. This in a country where the Prime Minister himself had admitted several years ago (2011) that he could not imagine how he would live with 800 euros a month.

Disagree to whether they agreed

At the same time in Germany, before even drying the ink in their public program Christian Union (CDU/CSU) and Social Democratic Party (SPD) disagree with whether they have agreed that the minimum wage would rise relatively quickly to 15 euros, from 12.8 from 20.8.

For the SPD this was a central election commitment, for the CDU/CSU decision to be taken by the competent independent committee. The battle certainly has “class” characteristics, as the Social Democrats have the unions on their side, who insist that not even 15 euros per hour are sufficient to cover the ever -increasing cost of living. Conservatives cite businesses, who argue that the German -immersed German economy does not withstand wages and pay increases. It remains to be seen whether and when and to what extent this issue could cause coalition in the Coalition, which is expected to start on May 6 or as the next Chancellor Friedrich Mertz like to “restart”.

In any case, the gap from 5 to 15 euros at least 12.8 is huge and shows that the promise of the “convergence” with which the Monetary Union was starting was very ambitious. Even if one makes the comparison in the monthly gross salary, the 880 is very poor and weak to 2,200, when prices in many essentials do not have significant differences between Greece and Germany.

Who is on top

The minimum basic salary is not legally guaranteed in some countries such as Austria, Denmark, Finland or Sweden, but there are strong collective agreements and fee levels also significantly higher than that of Greece, where many sectors have no collective agreements.

At the moment, however, Germany is in fourth place in terms of the minimum wage. The first and having exceeded 15 euros is Luxembourg with 15.25, followed by the Netherlands with 14.06 euros and Ireland with 13.50 euros. Belgium is moving at the level of Germany and France a little further down (11.88).

It is also worth noting the jump that has made countries, which until recently called “poor east”. In Poland, an employee receives 7.08 euros per hour and in Slovenia 7.36.

Also impressive is the rise in countries that started low and introduced significant increases in early 2025. Plus 16% Romania, plus 13.4% Bulgaria, plus 11.4% Lithuania, plus 11% Croatia, plus 7.7% in the Czech Republic.

The energy crisis, the inflation that has hit almost all of Europe, and the uncertainty of many households for the future, thus justifies the characterization of a “battle” for negotiations, which are being made in many countries on wage issues and also shows the road that Greece has to reach until most of its countries.

Sources: WSI-Mindestlohndatetenbank 2025, Eurostat, Statistisches Bundesamt