Avoiding another ‘ <i>Viking and Laval</i> ’ moment – a critical analysis of the AG opinion on the Adequate Minimum Wage Directive, Case C-19/23

This note critically assesses the Opinion by AG Emiliou on the legality of the Adequate Minimum Wage Directive 2022/2041 in Case C-19/23. It suggests that, while the Opinion rightly acknowledges that exclusions from Treaty competencies ‘must be interpreted strictly so as not to unduly affect the scope’ (para 55) of the EU regulatory powers, the AG has failed to draw the correct conclusions from this important principle. AG Emiliou has interpreted broadly - much more broadly than the CJEU had ever done on previous occasions - the ‘pay’ exclusion, in a way that unnecessarily encroaches on EU lawmaking competences in the social policy field and risks precipitating Social Europe into an existential crisis unseen since the infamous CJEU decisions in Viking and Laval .