The Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, as the coordinator of joint activities undertaken by competent institutions, has successfully resolved the matter of postponing the implementation of the controversial stipulations within the German Minimum Wage Act concerning workers in transit transport.
The competent ministries (Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, Ministry of Labour and Pension System, and Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure), the Croatian Chamber of Commerce and the Croatian MEPs have undertaken coordinated efforts to protect the Croatian transporters from the effects of said Act that came into force 1 January 2015. Apart from the fact that Germany has not informed the member states about its coming into force in a timely fashion, there are numerous other ambiguities regarding the implementation measures. Also questionable is said Act’s harmonization with the acquis communautaire, in particular the internal market regulations and the freedom to provide services.
Croatia directly contacted the German authorities in January 2015 and requested that the implementation of the disputed Act be postponed and its alignment with the EU legislature checked, not brining into question the implementation of minimum hourly wages as a social protection measure in other services.
A joint action was launched in January with other interested EU member states in order to prevent the negative consequences to transporters. In response, the European Commission has undertaken the process of determining the alignment of said Act with the acquis communautaire, and submitted to Germany a proposal to temporarily postpone the Minimum Wage Act.