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In light of the Eurozone Crisis, some countries have implemented reforms to collective wage bargaining institutions, which can be responsible for wage rigidities that are problematic in the face of rising unemployment. This column describes collective wage bargaining in France and how national minimum wage increases are transmitted to wage floors set by industry-level agreements. An increase in the national minimum wage leads to an increase in negotiated industry-level wage floors, which firms then use as references for their wage policy. This might partly explain why French base wages have continued to increase despite recent rising unemployment.

The large wave of refugees arriving from the Middle East and Northern Africa is one of the major challenges facing the EU today. In this column, the authors of the 2nd Monitoring the Eurozone report outline their proposal for one measure to help deal with the refugee crisis – EU refugee bonds. EU-wide bonds are an appropriate way to finance the response to the crisis due to the immediate costs for some countries and the future benefits for others of integrating refugees.