Earlier in May, European Commission First Vice-president and lead candidate of the Party of European Socialists (PES) for the new Commission president, Frans Timmermans, called on the EU countries to introduce a European minimum wage standard.
[...]
The European debate is about introducing a common standard for the minimum wage, which is 60% of the average wage in the country. ... Timmermans is, in fact, putting pressure on the six EU members without an official minimum, namely Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Italy and Sweden. Opponents of the minimum wage see the policy as dragging down competitiveness and sovereignty [!], as well as levelling down salaries [!] - some sort of a race to the bottom.
[...]
Predictably, the highest minimum wages are in Luxembourg - just over €2,000. In the richest EU countries, the minimum wage varies from €1,100 to €1,680. Citizens of these countries would not support the introduction of an equal minimum wage standard[?], if such an idea was ever to be discussed at EU level. That would bring them closer [?] to the poorer countries, where the normal salary is two times lower than their minimum wage.

archived
DICTION CORNER
relative, comparative

The same economic logic applies to pensions.