CELSI researcher Tibor T. Meszmann gave a keynote lecture at the annual seminar for workers’ organisations from EU candidate countries, titled "Quality Jobs and Decent Wages: For a Workers-Centred Agenda of Trade Unions from EU Candidate Countries."

The seminar, organised by Podkrepa and the European Centre for Workers' Questions (EZA), took place in Sofia, Bulgaria, at the Sveta Sofia Hotel from 9 to 11 March 2025.

The focus of the seminar was on the role of social dialogue as an effective mechanism to reform civil society, support democratic institutions, and respect workers' rights.

The seminar included lectures and interventions by trade union representatives from EU candidate countries, including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia.

The keynote lecture, titled “The Role of Social Dialogue and the Accession to the EU,” discussed the changing role of trade unions and the experiences of trade unions in earlier waves of Eastern enlargement.

The event was part of a special project by the European Centre for Workers’ Questions (EZA), aimed at organisations representing working people in candidate countries, focusing on the current state of their EU accession process.