SOFIA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility Marianne Thyssen said here on Tuesday the European Union (EU) needs economic, social and political convergence.
The goal of convergence has always been at the heart of the European project, and the EU needed convergence, first of all, for economic reasons, Thyssen said while addressing the conference "Towards a European Alliance for Upward Wage Convergence".
In particular, the Economic and Monetary Union needed some convergence of economic and social systems. "Without convergence, divergence takes over and in the end Monetary Union is not sustainable."
The EU needed convergence also for social reasons, she said. "In a union of values, there can be no second class Europeans. Convergence is a good medicine against social fears -- fear of 'social dumping' on the one hand, or of 'brain drain' on the other."
"We need convergence for political reasons. If national differences are too large, if people don't see that there is progress, that undermines the legitimacy of the European project," Thyssen said.
There has been a real wage convergence between East and West parts of the EU, she said, adding that in Bulgaria, Romania and the Baltics, real wages have been growing between 70 percent and 110 percent faster than in the rest of the EU.
However, there were still large differences in Europe, she said. "In 2016, real wages in Bulgaria, the country with the lowest wage level, were about three times lower than real wages in Luxembourg," Thyssen said.
"Real wages had to fall to restore competitiveness, and to restore balance within the euro area. It would also be necessary for the wages of surplus countries such as Germany to increase," she said.
