The Directive was proposed by the Commission in October 2020. At the start of her mandate, Commission President von der Leyen promised a legal instrument to ensure that workers in the EU have a fair minimum wage, and she repeated that pledge in her first State of the Union address in 2020. The Directive establishes a framework for ensuring the adequacy of statutory minimum wages, promoting collective bargaining on wage setting, and enhancing the effective access of workers to minimum wage protection in the EU. Adequate minimum wages are important to strengthen social fairness and underpin a sustainable and inclusive economic recovery. Better working and living conditions benefit businesses as well as society and the economy in general by boosting productivity and competitiveness. Some workers are affected by low adequacy and/or gaps in the coverage of minimum wage protection, however. The EU framework will be established by the new Directive in full respect of national traditions and competences, as well as the autonomy of social partners. It does not require Member States to introduce statutory minimum wages, nor does it set a common minimum wage level across the EU.