Minimum Equivalent Fees. A proposal to re-establish income equality for equivalent work

Abstract

The CJEU’s recent judgment in Case C-19/23, which upholds most of Directive 2022/2041 on adequate minimum wages, highlights an overlooked issue: the removal of minimum professional fees in Spain, and most EU Member States, has created a structural asymmetry between salaried and self-employed workers. This asymmetry undermines the constitutional right to fair remuneration and the European principle of non-discrimination, especially as self-employed workers have been increasingly treated as “legal entities” which deprives them of rights inherent to natural persons. Through an analysis of Spanish and European legislation, constitutional jurisprudence, and income data from sectors as architecture, the article shows that current regulation produces material discrimination. It then proposes Minimum Equivalent Fees (MEF) as a proportional, legally coherent mechanism to restore income equality for equivalent work, aligned with EU law and CJEU case law.