Less than a week since the new Government has been constituted, on August 1st 2011 trade union representatives held their first meeting with the new Minister of Labor and Social Policy Spiro Ristovski, formerly Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Policy in the previous government composition. In the presence of all national trade union centers, the two social partners confirmed the priority tasks and activities for the coming period. It was jointly agreed that the work of the Social and Economic Committee should be intensified, and further domestic legislation be harmonized with that of the EU as a strategic goal. In light of this, activities are under way for implementation of the Directive for European Works Councils in Macedonian legislation. Trade unions reiterated at this meeting the demand for determining of the minimum wage at national level, stating their proposal that it not be under 160 EUR, to be valid for all sectors and to be in form of law. The unions agreed that they conduct expert analysis together with the ILO in order to put forward this proposal. The new Minister refused to rush into defining any set amounts yet but committed to this issue as one of the top priorities in the coming period together with the social partners.