Beyond competence exclusions: the hidden theory of Social Europe in the judgement on the Adequate Minimum Wages Directive

Abstract Anticipated with interest and unease, the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice delivered its judgment on the Adequate Minimum Wages Directive 2022/2041/EU in November 2025. Although it annulled limited criteria on setting and updating statutory minimum wages, the Directive was upheld, including its legal basis in Article 153(1)(b) TFEU. The Court thereby accommodated divergent wage-setting systems embedding the Directive within the social objectives of Title X TFEU, and finding that Art. 153(5) limits EU action only where a measure concretely amounts to direct interference. Both elements contrast sharply with the Opinion of Advocate General Emiliou, which proposed a broad reading of the pay exclusion to annul the Directive. This careful judgment is a landmark in labour law and EU law. Far beyond a decision on competence exclusions, it positively develops a space for an exercise of EU competence that preserves the capacity to realise Social Europe’s objectives; respects social partner autonomy and Member State diversity, and promotes collective bargaining. In the article, we characterise these three dimensions as the judgment’s somewhat hidden theory of Social Europe. This theory can sharpen arguments for advancing Social Europe, articulating its levels and actors, and pursuing upward social convergence. It clarifies the constitutional position and working methods of the social policy title, allows its developments and limits to be evaluated, and enables anticipation of how and why Social Europe initiatives may succeed or fail. More than the endpoint of an annulment challenge, the judgment and its theory are resources whose advances and limits are to be mined.